Final Exam
by Kokojin
Summary: High School, survival of the fittest. Decisions made here could decide your fate. Are you a weakling that got crushed before the 1st bell, or did you rise to the top, and claim you place among the strongest of your district.
1. Lesson One

Chapter 1.

"Dude, that test was horrible." Quinton said walking out of the classroom.

"What are you talking about? That was easy as hell." replied Jeremy following a few steps behind.

"You are the only person I know that can say they actually liked a Chemistry test." Walking down the stairs Quinton stopped and looked out the window to a large crowd of students near the bus stop. "Uh-oh",

"What?" Jeremy asked.

"Isn't that your bro down there?",

"Where?"

"By the bus stop, looks like he's fighting the baseball team."

"Yeah, that sounds like him." Jeremy said walking away unsurprised.

"Should we go help?"

"Why, he can handle them himself."

"No, I mean help the team, he'll nearly kill them if we don't get involved."

"That's true, ugh... lets go." an annoyed Jeremy mumbled under his breath.

In the crowd AJ was having the time of his life, forcing back each student as they stepped forward. "Come On! Somebody give me a challenge, no homo but, I'll even beat three of you at once!" Answering his call out, three members came forth only to be quickly knocked down by a swift combo. Seeing their teammates easily dispatched the other six charged him. As they did the two leading them were sent flying over the rest as Quinton and Jeremy stood in their place.

"Hey, you guys should go home or practice or whatever, I don't care just leave or you'll have to fight all three of us." Jeremy said to the seven still conscious.

"And seeing that you were having this much trouble with AJ, I don't really like your chances of winning." Quinton added before taking a ready position.

The team looked as if they were considering attacking together but they all knew they didn't stand a chance at beating AJ, Quinton, and Jeremy at the same time, so picking up their belongings and KO'd members they left to the practice field.

"What the hell was that about?" Jeremy asked turning to AJ.

"What are you talking about, I could have handled it myself." AJ said in his defense.

"We know, we didn't come to back you up. We just needed to keep you from forgetting and going too far." Quinton stated.

"What's the worst that could happen?" AJ asked, as the other two began to walk away ignoring his question altogether.

"You guys know the Tournament is supposed to start in a few weeks right?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, who doesn't. I mean it's the one time people can challenge the champs." Quinton said.

"Why you want to enter?" AJ questioned with a smile on his face.

"Maybe, it is our last chance to take over this school."

"Yeah, lets do it. I cant wait to kick ass!"

"AJ you're forgetting something pretty important."

"What?"

"We need a team of seven to even enter." Quinton

"Oh, right damn" AJ said slightly depressed.

"We'll figure that out later, lets go home now and get ready." Jeremy said.

"Wait right there!" yell a voice from behind.

"Just who the hell you think your bitch ass is yelling at." AJ yelled back turning around to the source of the voice.

In a baseball uniform came a student slightly taller than AJ.

"You look familiar, aren't you the baseball team captain?" Quinton asked

"Yes, my name is Adrian, and you three attacked my team so now we can't practice today." He said looking pissed.

"What are you talking about? Your team jumped my brother, we just came to diffuse the situation." Jeremy clarified.

"You two gave my starting 1st and 2nd basemen concussions." Adrian stated

"Ok it sounds bad when you say it like that, wait a minute... AJ what was that fight about anyway?" Quinton asked

"Oh, see some dude stepped on my shoes." he said with a smile.

"SHOES!" Adrian said even more pissed "My team was destroyed over some shoes!"

"Hey bitch keep your damn voice down, I mean shit you act like y'all do anything important anyway." AJ yelled back.

"We have a championship game tomorrow asshole!"

"Look you scrawny punk, if you wanna fight I'm right here waiting."

""AJ don't start." Jeremy warned.

"You should listen to your brother, it's not like you could hurt me anyway."

"Is that a challenge?"

"What if it is, you gonna do something about it?"

Hearing this AJ leaped forward fist raised and struck Adrian in the face as Quinton and Jeremy prepared to back him up if necessary.

"What the hell? He didn't even attempt to dodge that!" Quinton yelled out causing AJ to move back.

"All three of you should attack at once, that's the only way you'll survive this fight."

Without hesitation the trio moved in for a combined strike only to be effortlessly evaded and countered. Adrian then proceeded to kick AJ in the stomach as his punch missed, and sent him flying into a wall with another directed to his head leaving him unconscious. Before either Quinton or Jeremy could respond to the sudden loss of AJ, Jeremy was knocked into a nearby tree as Quinton was rendered helpless with a kick to the back of the head.

Walking away from the three badly beaten students Adrian spat. "Weaklings couldn't even make that the least bit interesting." raising his hand to his face Adrian noticed blood under his nose. "Maybe I spoke too soon. This year tournament could be fun if they entered."

Waking up in the nurse's office at the school, Jeremy looked around to see his and AJ's younger brother Arthur sitting in a chair across from the unconscious Quinton snickering. "What the hell is so funny Arthur?" an irritated Jeremy asked.

"You guys got your asses kicked, that's what." He said bursting into a fit of laughter as Jeremy threw a glass jar at his head barely missing. The noise caused AJ and Quinton to regain their senses. "What's up sleepyheads, how was your dirt nap." he asked.

"Where the hell were you when we got attacked?"

"Doesn't matter, but you guys are famous you know that?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"It's all over school, how you challenged Team Byakko's Adrian and got dropped, but the good news is one of you injured him slightly. Gave him a bloody nose."

"Did you say Team Byakko?" AJ asked

"That's kinda why I told you not to fight him dumbass." Jeremy said "Anyway he didn't go all out on us so we are lucky for that at least, now back to the matter at hand we need 4 people to join us in this tournament. Arthur you in?"

"Uhh HELL NO, I saw how y'all got dropped. You on your own bro."

"Good to know you always have my back." Jeremy said sarcastically.

"I know, wait oh you suck."

"OH!" AJ said standing up "I think I know where to find someone to help us."

"Who?" Quinton asked

"I was sta- following this girl in the forest and-"

"Wait you were stalking some girl in the forest?"

"Look I said 'following' now let me finish, I was studying her bottom I mean botany skills when I saw her drop an apple from a tree with a twig."

"Ok Mr. Rapist, do you at least know her name so we can find her easier?" Arthur replied.

"Yeah of course, I think it was Jasmine or something."

"The eco-club president?"Quinton asked

"Yeah that's her, you think she'll help?" AJ

"I don't know, maybe if she has something against the them for some reason we could persuade her to join." Jeremy said as the 4 left the room to find their first recruit.

**Authors Notes: This is a story based around people I know no need for a disclaimer, anyone who wants to submit a character to take part in this story please submit them in the form of a message. only support characters please, as they will have a major role later in this series.**


	2. He Probably Deserved That

Chapter 2

"OK Arthur, where the hell are you taking us?" Quinton asked questioning Arthur's since of direction.

"I already told you, we're going to the eco-club's secret training grounds."

"What the hell do they need a training ground for, and how do you even know?"AJ asked

"I have my sources." Arthur replied calmly "Also when do you guys want to stop running?"

"What are you talking about." AJ looked at Arthur confused.

"They found us, about ten minutes ago."

"And you didn't tell us, Why?"

"I thought you'd notice."

"How many are there?"

"Six and Jasmine."

"This should be a good place, lets stop here." Jeremy called to the others.

A short girl with a shirt a few sizes too small appeared behind them, followed by six more with matching schoolgirl uniforms.

Jeremy stepped forward, "You must be Jasmine." he said to the miniature leader. "I'm Jeremy, these are my brothers AJ and Arthur behind them is our teammate Quinton." Jeremy extended his hand to Jasmine who immediately took hold of it.

"I know who you are." she said shaking his hand vigorously "You guys beat up Adrian of the Seven didn't you?"

"Beat up isn't a term I'm comfortable using in this situation, he actually tossed us like rag dolls."

"Uhh speak for yourselves, YOU got dropped, I just watched."Arthur corrected.

"Right...we'll we wanted to know if you would join us for the Tournament?"

"Of course I would!" she screamed jumping up and down happily

"DAMN, AJ LOOK AT THEM TIDDIES!" Arthur shouted.

"Damnit why now of all time."Jeremy asked himself.

"What the fuck did you just say, you little shit" Jasmine raged as her personality did a complete u-turn.

"Oh shit." Arthur said backing up as Jasmine sent more obscenities his way.

"I may be wrong but I think he said you got some tig ol' biddies." Quinton added.

"Quinton why the hell would you say that? Jasmine please calm down, we can talk about this."

"No talking! You want me to join you, you'll have to beat us. Now come on." She charged at Quinton preparing to attack as her six club members split themselves among the remaining three fighters. Arthur running into the forest followed by two, AJ took to the trees leaping form branch to branch. Jeremy got the attention of the final two and ran to the other side of the clearing with them in pursuit.

Stopping about a hundred yards AJ stopped at turned to his opponents smiling at them, "Just who do you think you're smiling at?" one asked as they readied themselves to strike him.

"Just two sexy ladies in miniskirts." He said his facial expression never changing.

"Look you pervert, don't think that just because we're girls that we can't beat you down."

"Of course not, I mean even if you were men I'd still beat you without using my hands."

Taking that as a challenge the couple charged forward, AJ easily dodged the first two punches before jumping to a lower branch. Looking up he pulled his phone as the girls looked side to side for him, "Sweet got some great shots."

he said.

Lowering their gaze they saw his phone's camera pointed directly at them. "Wait, from that angle" the shorter one began "YOU FUCKING PIG!"

jumping towards AJ snapping the branch he stood on forcing AJ to move to the ground as the second landed next to him. The taller of the two landed a high kick to his head, unfazed AJ lowered his phone to snap a few more pics under her skirt before she could change positions. AJ then jumped to a weaker limb as the club members followed close behind, bending it back before he passed it, he caused it to swing back into the face of the taller member knocking her out. "Sorry, didn't mean to hit that hard." AJ called without looking back. While slowing his pace so his second could catch up but still keeping a decent distance between them. He decided to stand perfectly still on a branch, as she caught up to him she twisted his arm behind his back "Got a good grip?" He asked confusing her. "What do you mean?"

she wondered, as AJ added pressure to the limb they were on sending them falling to the ground. Turning his body he landed with her on top of him.

"You ok?" He asked smiling. Slightly shaken she nodded not noticing his hands raise up her skirt, until she felt his hands on her ass. Jumping back as AJ got up she readied herself to rush him. "Think about that a little more carefully. I just forced you and your friend there to use all your energy chasing me, I knocked her out without laying a hand on her and you just saw how fast I am, if I was serious neither of you could have laid a hand on me if you wanted to." lowering her hand she acknowledged defeat and helped her partner back to the clearing as AJ lead the way.

Seeing AJ return with the girls and stand next to Arthur Jeremy stopped dodging the girls' attacks allowing the girls to hit him. "OK girls we can stop now, the guys won." he stated.

"What are you talking about?" one asked.

"Take a look behind you."

"Like we'd fall for that old trick."

"If I was going to attack you, don't you think I would have by now, or did you really think you were winning?"

"So you were just screwing with us?"

"Exactly. I haven't even broken a sweat and look at you two, out of breath barely standing."

""Ugh, damn he's right, we surrender." they agreed bowing their heads in defeat.

Walking toward AJ and Arthur he sat at the base of a tree. "So Arthur, how did you beat them so quickly?" AJ asked

"Oh yeah I kinds knocked them out, AJ how many pics did you get?"

"I got to snap of eight, what about you?"

"Twenty-seven." Arthur answered

"How did you-"AJ began

"I said knocked them out."

"Date rape?" Jeremy added

"Might as well, wait where's Quinton?" Arthur asked

"Over there." Jeremy pointed to a path of broken trees. "I think he's still holding back."

"Damn." Quinton thought to himself as he dodged another tree breaking kick. Taking advantage of the opening her kick left, he grabbed her leg and slung her through a tree. " I cant even focus. Those boobs are just too freakin' huge." running back to the opening he noticed the other three waiting. "Great, hey Jasmine. I surrender."

"What, why the hell would you do that?" Jasmine asked

"Because it doesn't matter if you win or not, it looks like my team already won." pointing at AJ and Jeremy under the tree and Arthur taking more pics of the still unconscious students

"OK now that that's settled,we need to find two more people to join." Jeremy said

"Yeah and we still have about ten days until the tournament. By the way, Jasmine you agreed to join us pretty quickly, do you have anything against the Power 7?" AJ asked

"Those bastards cut our budget."

"Oh boo hoo, losing a few dollars is sssoooo bad."

""How bad was the cut." Jeremy asked

"We used to have $1000, now we only get $100."

"OUCH, well looks like we have one more reason to win." Quinton added

"Well lets go, I know a guy that could help us find another teammate." Jeremy said. The boys left with their new teammate as the rest of the eco club began to clean up the mess left by Quinton and Jasmine's brawl.

Walking up to a large fenced in house Jeremy stopped and turned to the others. "Alright when we go in nobody touch anything. Got it?" he ordered

"Why, is he really that protective of his gadgets?" Jasmine asked

"No, lets just say his hobbies aren't entirely... legal."

"What like drug dealin, cause I could use some more of that snake piss you brought back last time." AJ asked

"No."

"Weapon dealing?"Arthur questioned

"Nope."

"What is it then?" Jasmine asked getting tired of the randomness of AJ and Arthur.

'He's a info broker, a hacker, and is pretty good at forgeries."

""Well that's not so bad."

"He'll sell government secrets for a new leather jacket."

"How's that going to help us find recruits?" She asked

"Well he owes me a favor for a job I did a few weeks ago."

"What was it?"

"Yeah... I'm not going to tell ya." he said entering he house. "Ok guys, I'm not sure where he is in here so split up, if you find him call my phone. Quinton and Jasmine take a look around the second floor, AJ you take Arthur and search the first floor. I'll check the basement."

On the second floor Quinton tried to open a door but it wouldn't budge. "For a guy that hates horror movie cliches he was pretty quick to split us up." he said in an attempt to break the silence. Ignoring his comment Jasmine called out

"Hey, Quinton?"

"Yeah, whats wrong?" he asked seeing her shaking, "Are you alright."

"Y-yes, it's just, I feel like we're being watched."

"No way. What, you think some masked killer is in the closet trying to kill us. Seriously what are the chances of tha-AAAAHHHH!" Quinton screamed falling into an open room. Terror filling her eyes Jasmine towards him. Forcing the door open she jumped back as a hand grabbed her leg.

"Quinton YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Haha sorry I couldn't help myself." he laughed as she stormed down the hall, leaving her partner to try another room. Hearing his scream again, she spoke "I'm not going to fall for that again...Quinton...stop playing...where did you go." she asked walking to the only open door. "this isn't funny, you got your laugh now come out!" stepping into the room, the floor collapsing under her.

"Arthur where you wanna check first?" AJ asked not noticing Arthur head straight for the kitchen.

"I'm hungry, you want something."

"Where the hell are you?"

"Kitchen, you hungry or not?"

"Why is your ghetto ass going through people's fridge."

"Boy I said I was hungry." Arthur said pulling out some ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and two large buns. "damnit I forgot the mayo." reaching back into the fridge an unseen force pulled him in closing the door behind him.

"Ay make me one too bro." walking into the kitchen "What, no smartass remark?" seeing he was not there "Guess I'll make my own." opening the door AJ was forced into the by the same pull.

Waking up in a dark room to the sound of Arthur falling through the ceiling Quinton called out to Jasmine. "You ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

Arthur, hearing their voices asked "How the hell did you guys get in the fridge?"

"You're not in the fridge, you guys are in the basement." Jeremy's voice came from a desk with a tall and skinny white boy with short black hair.

On the desk behind them were monitors that showed every inch of the house, including the upstairs hallway and the kitchen.

"Jeremy what the hell is going on?" AJ asked

"You guys didn't listen."

"What?"

"These rooms a all booby-trapped."

"You never said that!" Arthur defended himself."

"You right, I said don't touch anything, and you see what happened?"

turning to Nick, Jeremy added "So did you find her?"

"Yeah she stays at the pool after school sometimes, that's your best shot at finding her. I still need time to find that other one." Nick said handing Jeremy a folder. "Ok thanks, here's your payment." handing him a roll of bills. "Get up everyone we're leaving." Jeremy called as he headed up the stairs.

"OK first off, why did you have us split up if you knew where he was." Jasmine asked

"I only wanted to see how long you guys would last."

"OK what about this girl we're supposed to find?" She asked as Jeremy handed her the folder with the information.

"Her name's Tonya, she's a member of the swim team. She should be useful to us." Jasmine handed him the folder and asked.

"OK I have to get home, can we just go get her tomorrow. I mean we have over a week to get three more fighters."

"Yeah that'll workout just fine. Meet us at the Gym tomorrow." Jeremy answered. Jasmine waved goodbye and left Quinton followed her example a few minutes later.

Walking through the door of their home,the brothers stepped into the living room taking their seats around the TV. "Ay Dad, we're home. What's for dinner?" AJ called. Coming out of the back room, their dad answered "Do I look like a chef to you?"

"Well seeing as you work at the expensive Greek restaurant, I'd say yes."

"OK smartass, there's some pork shops in the oven help yourselves." he said, seeing the folder in Jeremy's hands he asked "What's with the folder? Porn? Drugs? Government secrets you could sell for a new leather jacket?" hearing this AJ and Arthur stared at Jeremy.

"No, just a profile."

"For what?"

"Recruit for the Tournament."

"You guys are entering this year?"

"Yea we still need 3 more teammates, well 2 if we can get this girl."

"Did you try that tomboy that use to follow AJ around?"

"No I completely forgot her." Jeremy replied. "AJ, you remember that chick that used to chase you?"

"I don't recognize flat chests." AJ answered between bite of food.

"If we knew where she was, I'd ask." Standing up and walking upstairs to his room Jeremy placed the folder on the end table and left. "I think I'll look her up later."

The next day Quinton waited outside the school's pool house for AJ and Jeremy. Looking through the door, he saw the swim team practicing, sighing he stepped back "C'mon, what are you guys doing?" His vision was suddenly blocked by two hands from behind. "Guess who." came a soft female voice. Turning around he saw Jasmine with a big smile across her face.

Smiling back he asked "What are you so happy about?" noticing her hair had a dark green highlight streaking through the middle.

Laughing she twirled around "Notice anything different?". Playing along he replied "hmm, did you get taller?", crossing her arms and turning her back to him she pouted. "I'm just kidding." he said "You hair looks great." giving her a quick hug from behind. "It's good to see you guys getting along," Jeremy said walking towards them with AJ behind him.

"Can I have what he's having?" AJ asked earning him a kick in the shin by Jasmine.

"You guys weren't waiting long were you?"

"Nope I just got here really." Jasmine answered.

"Good, have you gone inside yet Quinton?"

"Why, you and Jazz are the only ones who know what she looks like." he replied

"Ok then lets stop wasting time and get her." Entering the building, Jeremy stopped "AJ, you stay close. The last thing we need is a brawl near water."

"You say that like you don't trust me." he said looking slightly offended.

"You know what happens when you're alone."

"I know, but it still hurts when you say it out loud.". Walking over to the girl stepping out of the pool taking a break Jeremy spoke first. "Hey, do you know where Tonya is?"

"Who wants to know?" she asked.

"The next Power Seven." looking up at him Tonya questioned,

"You guys honestly plan on competing and winning."

"Yeah we do, and we're looking for help. Would you join us?"

"Who am I working with? I won't join if I think we'll lose before we even make it to the semi finals."

"Well I'm Jeremy, this is Quinton the co-captain of the soccer team. She's Jasmine the president of the eco-club, and-" before he could finish a scream came from the locker room.

"FUCKING PERVERT!" a girls voice followed AJ from the room along with shampoo bottles and a bucket which he easily danced around. Placing his palm to his face, "That would be my brother AJ."

"I'm sorry" she apologized

"It's ok, I got used to it." running to the group AJ smiled.

"Dude what did you say to her?" Quinton asked

"I'll tell you later." seeing Tonya, his inner thoughts came to the surface as he asked, "Hey, is there any chance I'd get to see you wet?" that comment earned him a hard kick to his nuts. As he rolled on the floor, Tonya spoke to Jeremy " OK I'll make a deal with you. If you can prove to me that we have a shot at winning, I'll join."

"How can we prove that?"

"We can spar, just not here." noticing AJ stand back up.

"OOH OOH, I know a nearby place a little more... private." AJ said with a wink earning him a double nut shot from both Jasmine and Tonya.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he screamed.

"You winked at us jerk." Tonya answered following Jeremy out the door with Quinton and Jasmine.

Walking into a fenced in basketball court "OK how's this gonna work?" Quinton asked,

"How about the girls vs. AJ. Any objections?"

"I object." AJ stated.

"Nobody, good." Jeremy said ignoring AJ. At that moment Jasmine dashed for AJ with Tonya close behind. AJ dodged Jasmine as she attempted to kick his legs from beneath him, as he jumped Tonya took that moment to aim a punch to his stomach, AJ blocked and countered with an open palm to her forehead. Jasmine launched a kick to AJ's neck missing as he leaned over to the side. Grabbing her leg as she went by AJ tossed Jasmine into Tonya. "Hey guys that's enough." Quinton called getting their attention "We've got company." taking note of the gang of teenagers surrounding them.

The gangs leader pointed to AJ, "Hey punk you're gonna pay for what you did to my car last week."

"Hey Ralph how ya been. I haven't seen you in about a week. Whats good?"

"Don't play dumb with me asshole!"

"Hey calm down, what did he do to your car?" Jasmine asked

"Shut up bitch!" Ralph yelled, sending Jasmine into her rage mode.

"Uh-oh, you shouldn't have said that." Jeremy warned

"Why? What's going to happen?" Tonya asked as Jeremy pulled her off to the side to watch the drama unfold. "You'll see soon enough."

Watching as the three teammates effortlessly demolish the street gang. Tonya was amazed at how strong Quinton and Jasmine were and even more so at AJ. "We never stood a chance at beating AJ did we?" see asked Jeremy who didn't look towards her.

"No, you didn't. He wasn't even half serious about that match."

"Why didn't you tell me you guys were that strong?"

"Because I doubt you'd have believed me anyway." he said turning to her "Duck." he told her as the last of the thugs was sent flying inches over her head. "So are you going to join us like you said, if you want I could train you to be just as strong as the others?"

"Yeah I'd like that, but that's only five we still need two more. What about them?"

"I'm working on number six, but seven will have to wait."

Walking to the new recruit and Jeremy the trio was happy to hear the news of Tonya joining. "AJ what DID you do to that guys car?" Tonya asked

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah, I do."

"He pissed in the gas tank." Jasmine stepped in.

"How'd you know?" Quinton asked.

"I'm pretty good at gathering info on what happens around here."

"Why did you do that?" Tonya asked disgusted at the thought.

" I got REALLY high and thought it'd be funny."

"OK enough of that. Tomorrow we'll find our sixth and be one person closer to entering. Lets all get home and rest up." Jeremy called, everybody said their goodbyes, and split up.


	3. A Full Roster

CH 3

As AJ walked into class Jeremy called from behind "Remember after class we need to plan our next step, so try not to fight anyone til then."

"No promises.". Walking past Tonya, AJ "slipped" spilling some of his water on the front of her shirt. Waving his arms frantically as he spilled more he defended himself "Oh nnnoo. Did I do that? I didn't mean... wait, yea I did. Sorry couldn't lie to you like that."

"You perverted bastard!" Tonya screamed pelting him with strikes to the back of the head. Falling forward AJ landed face first, opening his eyes to see what cushioned his fall.

"Well hellloo there funbags." he said, pulling away from the breasts he eyed his classmate. She wore a black cap turned backwards and a dark blue tank top, blushing she spoke

"H-hey AJ. How are you d-doing today?"

"Wow are these real,oh yea where are my manners? You know my name but what's yours Jugs?" he asked, pulling the front of her top with his finger earning him another kick from Tonya. "OW!"

"Don't you remember? It's me Bria."

"Hmm, nope doesn't ring a boob uhm I mean bell." he said causing Bria to look hurt.

"Alright class settle down." called their teacher as he walked in. Looking up he noticed AJ. "AJ please take your seat and stop pissing off Tonya.

"Well since you asked so nicely." AJ said while taking his seat

_Bell Rings_

Tonya walks over to AJ kicking the chair from beneath him, "Wake up lazy. We need to go.". Wiping the drool from his face he stood up and began to follow Tonya out. "AJ wait!" Bria called from behind, turning around AJ looked "Uhm if you're uh not busy or uhh would you mind if I walked with you?" she asked her face red as a tomato.

"Of course jugs, you don't expect me to follow Princess B-cups all day do ya?" He said prompting Tonya to stomp his foot.

Walking through the hall, the trio chatted along with most of their conversation being one-liners made by AJ. They kept walking until they came across a group of students waiting outside the front gate.

"Hey THATS THE GUY!" one called out pointing to AJ.

Draping his arm across Tonya's shoulder "Oh my god. I'M FAMOUS!" reaching into his shirt he put on a pair of sunglasses. "No autographs please."

"Nobody wants your damn autograph asshole."

"Whoa, why the hell are you so hostile, I don't even know you rudeness."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Tonya asked.

"Mind your business girly, just go home and play with your dolls." another student yelled causing her to lunge at him. More got involved trying to pull Tonya away when she broke his nose, only for AJ to join in as well. The scuffle turned into an all out 9-2 brawl with AJ and Tonya easily beating all in their way. One younger looking student grabbed a bat from a bag he was carrying. As he attempted to bring it down across AJ's back he was stopped by a hand grabbing the bat, turning he saw an angry looking Bria glaring at him.

"Don't you dare try a cowardly move like that." Bria stated calmly before tightening her grip enough to snap the bat in half and punching the boy's stomach sending him flying into the wall of the school. Seeing this the group backed off.

"Hey, I almost forgot to ask." AJ started "who are you guys and why are we fighting?" he asked slightly confused.

"It's just like you to forget something that happened just two days ago." Turning around to the sound of the voice the group's atmosphere quickly changed as Jeremy walked towards them. "This is the Baseball team again remember?"

"OH YEAH, how'd the game go?" AJ asked

"WE LOST BECAUSE OF YOU!" the vice-captain yelled.

"Nnnooo that's rude, you can't just go around blaming people for your loss. That's not fair."

"You injured two of our best players!"

"Actually, that was me." Jeremy said raising his hand. "But that's besides the point. Tonya you and the idiot need to come on we've been waiting for you."

"Jeremy that's really not nice, you can't call chesty an idiot." AJ said with a goofy grin on his face. Bria walked over to Jeremy and asked what was going on here. After explaining the situation to her he turned to the team telling them to leave. Turning back to Bria he asked if she would be interested in joining which she turned down.

"Huh, why don't you want to join, I mean I saw that punch you used and it was too strong for you to be an amateur fighter." Tonya asked

"Its just that I don't like fighting unless its necessary. So I don't feel like I should join you guys."

"Hey just think of the positive part, like you'll be working with the toughest fighter in the school...ME!" AJ added on.

"Shut up AJ, there's at least seven students stronger than you here." Tonya said

"OH YEA, name one."

"Adrian Walker." Jeremy stated.

"You know what, go step on a Lego." AJ retorted. "But yea join us Bria and together we can rule the world!"

"Well if AJ wants me to. Then I guess I will." Bria answered causing Tonya and Jeremy to face-palm.

They walked until they came across an abandoned theater, Jeremy opened the door for them as they entered the building. Quinton and Jasmine quickly jumping up as AJ walked into the room they were using as their base of operations.

"What took you guys so long?" Jasmine asked as Jeremy walked through the door.

"Jean Claude van Dam here started a fight." Tonya answered

"UH no, that was you, little miss short temper." AJ defended himself

"Does it really matter who did it?" Quinton asked

"Yes it really does. I am not always the main fight starter...just most of the time."

"Whatever, so Jeremy who's the new girl?"

"This is Bria, she used to hang out with us when we were kids and now she's our sixth member."

"Cool just one more to go."

"That's one of the reasons I called you guys here, I found our last member."

"Really? Who is it?" Tonya asked

"I talked Nick into it since he still owed me, but he's only joined in name so we can't rely on him in a fight." Jeremy said as he walked towards the others.

"Then what good is he?" Jasmine asked

"We need seven members to even compete. The rules never said they all have to fight." Quinton answering her question.

"Exactly. Now that all those questions are answered lets get to the main topic." Jeremy said "I know this isn't gonna sit well with some of you but, to be honest right now we don't stand a chance against Team Byakko right now-"

"Who's team Byakko?" Bria asked

"That's the name the power seven is going by. Now back to what I was saying. We need to train because right now the only ones here who have any hope of beating their weakest members are me, Quinton and AJ, so we need to get you girls to our level as soon as possible."

"So we're going to train, until the tournament and hopefully you guys will be ready." Nick said stepping into the room from the back door. "The fastest way for you to get stronger is to spar with one of them. Jeremy I think it'd be best if you trained Tonya and Quinton you train Jasmine since you guys get along and I'm pretty sure you won't get too far off topic." looking towards AJ and Bria and sighed "I guess its got to be you two together."

"Why'd you say it like that?" Bria asked wondering what Nick meant by his statement.

"Well see, your breasts are kinda... huge, and we all know AJ has a thing for boobs."

"Yeah, yeah yadda yadda yadda. C'mon knockers lets get going." AJ said pulling Bria out of the door with him.

"Do you really think they're gonna get anything done?" Tonya asked following Jeremy through the back door.

"Not a chance. The most I can see them doing is... nevermind." Nick answered as the door closed behind her leaving him in the room with Quinton and Jasmine. "What are you guys still doing here?"

"Well, we were just thinking about where we would go to train."

"Don't try to lie to me, you two were gonna try to get a little freaky on that couch weren't you?" Nick said with a smile on his face. Without answering Quinton stood up with Jasmine and awkwardly walked out leaving Nick alone in the room. Nick then pulled a laptop from his bag next to the couch. "I used to wonder what friendship could be." he sang to himself as AJ walked back in.

"Wow, really dude. You're like eighteen watching a show about ponies." he said laughing.

"AJ, did you know that friendship is magic, and that magic allowed me to know everyone's address and sleeping habits including yours?" Nick asked never looking away from the screen.

"Enjoy your show." AJ said picking up his phone and slowly backing out of the room with a frightened look on his face.

**Authors Note:** Sorry for the wait, I was getting used to college life and didn't manage my time around correctly. But now that I'm used to it there will be no more seven week breaks. I will attempt to have a new chapter ready at least once a week.


	4. It Just Got Real

Chapter 4

In an old fashion castle-like room lit by a candle chandelier five figures sat at a long table, their bodies covered in long white cloaks. A sixth figure walked into the room his hood removed revealing his shoulder length black hair and pale skin. The person closest to the head of the table stood,seeming displeased at the teen's lateness.

"Dominic, you're late again." He said as Dominic took the seat farthest from the head

"Heh, so what? It's not like I'm a grunt, I don't have to take orders from you."

"Is that really what you think?" asked a female voice "If that's true, I think we made a mistake choosing you to replace Haseo."

"What do you mean by that Tiara?" Dominic asked, "You're the one who vouched for me to begin with."

Removing her hood and letting her brown hair fall to her face she answered. "What I'm saying is, you're the weakest here so get your head out your ass and show some respect to your superiors." She said blatantly showing her discontent at his attitude towards his peers..

"Tsk. OK, I get it. I won't keep you waiting again." Dominic said bowing his head towards Tiara. "Why were we called here anyway? The preliminaries doesn't start for another few days." he asked. The male near the head pulled his hood down revealing himself to be Adrian.

"I've found a few students that may become a problem if they get any stronger than they are now. One in particular was able to draw blood." Adrian said

"Well well Adrian, it sounds to me like you're afraid." came a voice its source being the larger student sitting next to Tiara.

"No Mason, not fear. I don't think its a good idea to underestimate these guys." Adrian said in his defense.

"Whatever you say." Mason said "Who are these guys you're so worried about anyway?"

Removing a file from his cloak Adrian tossed it onto the table which Mason began look over as Adrian spoke "They're are some of them, the first is the orchestra's "Concert Master" and co-captain of the soccer team Quinton Clifton. He's a senior, battle record since freshman year is 50 wins 2 losses and 1 tie. School power ranking places him at 8th strongest."

"What about the others?" Mason asked passing the file to Tiara.

"Second is Jeremy Coleman, he doesn't do anything after school but it's known that he runs errands for an underground informant. His records show that he won 64 fights, lost 4, and tied once, leaving his ranking at 5." Adrian said noticing Mason twitched at the mention of the ranking.

"The last is his brother AJ Coleman, he used to run track but videos of his fights got to the coaches attention. He seems to have trouble not fighting as this week alone his win record increased by 4 leaving him with a record 48 wins 2 losses and 2 ties and the rank of 3rd in the school."

"Hold on, how does he rank higher than the first guy." Dominic questioned "Those records shows that he shouldn't be that high."

"AJ has a habit of taking on more than one opponent. If we were to count every individual fight he would end up with 125 wins 3 losses and 2 ties. The only reason he still ranks 5th is because he never fought anyone of our caliber."

Standing up and slamming his fists into the table causing his hood to fall and show his short brown hair and eyes. Mason shouted his frustration to Adrian. "THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT, HOW THE HELL CAN THOSE THREE OUTRANK ME, "THE TURF TRAIN" "THE PHENOM OF THE FIELD" HOW?"

"Don't worry Mason, I want to make sure our victory this year is assured so this is an executive order to all of you." The remaining 2 students looked towards him. "You are to split up and destroy Jeremy, Quinton, and the info broker Nick Nash. AJ is to be left to me. Mason take Sarah, your target is Jeremy. Tiara and Valerie take down Quinton. Dominic you are to find Nick Nash and break him. Is that understood?" in response to his orders the others stood and bowed before leaving the room to find each of their targets.

* * *

Walking through the wooded area where the eco-club meets, Quinton and Jasmine began her training. Quinton carried a stack of black boards putting them down as they found the field they met at.

"OK Jas, what we're gonna do is work on your flexibility." He said, Jasmine giving him a glare. "Not like that. What I mean is if you can attack from awkward positions then you already have an advantage over your opponent."

"Then why not just work on my power like Bria?"

"That would've been a good idea if we had the time, but seeing as the prelims start in a few days lets focus on your best attributes."

"i guess you're right." she said "so what exactly are we going to do here?"

"Well I'm going to hold these up. Your job is to break them. Simply right?"

"Yeah but what's the catch?"

"No catch, just break them that's all. Now let's get started." he said holding the first board. Sighing Jasmine prepared to strike. Punching the board as hard as she could she was surprised at the results, no dent in the material but knowing that her attack should have broken through.

"What the hell is that made of?" She asked holding her hand "I know I hit it hard enough, that should have snapped in half."

"It's bamboo, strong but flexible. You're gonna have to try harder tan that to break these." He said with a smile.

"You're such a jerk." Jasmine said pouting before returning to her ready stance.

"Try hitting it faster, don't give it time to bend." Quinton hinted

Striking it again she flinched as her hand went through the board instead of breaking it.

"Good job now you got it."

"But, how'd that work, I put even less power behind that."

"Do you remember our little scuffle we hand when we met?"

"Yea, but what does that have to do with this?"

" I'm not sure if you realize this but, when you attacked me, you used the trees as a springboard to put all your body weight behind your attacks. This takes the same principles as the springboard just using your shoulder as the turning point to pick up speed causing your strikes to have more force while wasting less energy." Quinton explained.

Nodding as Quinton picked up the next board Jasmine readied herself to finish her training. As she threw her punch a powerful gust of wind interrupted her train of and caused the board in Quinton's hands to split down the middle. Quinton's face turned serious as he turned in the direction the gust blew from. "Who's there?" he called Jasmine looked at him confused that he thought someone could have caused

"What are you talking about there's nobody-" Jasmine started as Tiara stepped forward with the still hooded Valerie behind her.

"Tiara?" Quinton looked shocked at her sudden appearance. "Why are you here?" he asked motioning for Jasmine to get behind him.

"Well hello to you too Quinton. Who's you're little friend?" Tiara asked with a smile that made him pull Jasmine farther back. "Aww you don't wanna talk, and after I came all this way to find you." she said with a playful pout. "Oh well my orders weren't to talk you to death so let's get this over with."

"Quinton, who is she? What does she mean by her"orders?" Jasmine asked

"I'm not sure but knowing them, its probably not good."

Taking this as a cue to begin, Tiara sent a gust of wind at Quinton and Jasmine knocking them into a nearby tree. As the windstorm continued to force them to the tree Quinton pulled himself and Jasmine

around to the other side and leaned in towards her. "Jas, I want you to run."

"What do you mean run?" she asked. Looking into Quinton's eyes, she understood the seriousness of the situation. "Whats going on? How's she doing that?" she said worrying.

"I'll tell you later, but right now you need to get away from here. Run to the school, Jeremy or AJ should be there. Let them know what's happening."

"But, I can't just leave you here by yourself, SHE can control the wind you don't stand a chance."

"You'd be surprised, now go I'll hold them back." he said pushing Jasmine off his arm. Sending her running through the forest towards the school.

"Aww, why'd you send her away?" Valerie asked, "It might not have been part of our instructions but I wanted to have some fun with her."

"Well that's too bad, because all you're getting is me." Quinton said. As Valerie ran towards him, Quinton stayed in place until she was within striking distance sending a burst of air into her stomach.

"Well, that was easier than I thought." he said as Valerie got back to her feet. "Oh you're still awake."

"What the hell! Tiara you didn't tell me he could do that."

"Look, if I didn't think he could be a hassle would I use my powers?"

"I thought you were just showing off!" Valerie screamed then looked around, "Where'd he go?" she began following Tiara, who had already began chasing Quinton through the forest.

At the school Jasmine finally made it to the main courtyard. Hearing a loud crash she turned to see Dominic sent flying out of a first floor window and Nick slowly following as he tried to crawl away. "NICK!" Jasmine called getting his attention. Dominic used the gap in Nick's attention to counter attack. Nick easily dodged and stepped behind him, Dominic attempted to attack again only to find himself unable to move.

"I can't move! What the hell did you do to me?" Dominic panicked.

"Not much, I just activated my power. I call it 'Shadow-Boxing'. You're not going to move until I get off your shadow." he said slapping the back of Dominic's head as he turned his gaze back to Jasmine. "What's up, shouldn't you be with Quinton?"

"We need your help." she said

"Let me guess. Team Byakko sent two members after Quinton?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Who do you think this guy is? They sent him after me."

"So they're attacking everyone?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry. Quinton, Jeremy and AJ have a few tricks up their sleeves." at that moment a powerful gust sent Tiara and Valerie flying towards them. "Speak of the devil." Nick said as Quinton walked out of the forest, his shirt ripped and a small cut under his left eye. Nick then moved from the shadow and kicked Dominic to the two girls as Quinton and Jasmine stood next to him. The three Byakko members readied themselves for another attack from Quinton but were hesitant to attack first. "Wow Quinton, looks like they put up a bit of a fight." Nick taunted.

"Yeah, but there's something wrong, I don't think this is all they're capable of."

"Really, I cant say I expect much more from that guy, but I know what you mean. There shouldn't be this much of a gap in our strength."

"HEY! WILL SOMEONE HELP ME OUT!" Tonya called running from the schools greenhouse with a group of vines following after her. Quinton swiped at the air sending blades of wind behind her cutting the vines as she joined them. Sarah running out after her taking her place with team Byakko. "Thanks, now can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Team Byakko is attacking us." Quinton said

"I can see that, I mean WHY!"

"I don't know, but I do know is they're not going all out. By the way where's Jeremy." As if on cue the towering figure of Mason falling from the roof of the main school building creating a crater beneath him. "That answers that, but I wonder if that guy is gonna be alright." Jeremy jumped from the roof landing next to the unmoving giant and continued to his allies.

"Hey, you guys look like hell." he said as he stepped closer. "Let me guess, they came after you too?"

"Yeah, and did you really have to go that far?" Quinton asked looking at the unconscious student yards away.

"Not really, but he wanted to prove that he was stronger or something so I just showed him the gap between our power." Jeremy said shrugging his shoulders.

"Somehow I expected to hear that from AJ not you." Quinton said, "Speaking of which, anyone know where he is?" he asked watching team Byakko gather around Mason.

"I don't know but I'm sure he'll show up eventually." Jeremy said turning to the girls. "You two alright?"

"Yeah I guess, but why are they attacking us? The tournament hasn't even started yet." Jasmine asked

"I think that's the point. Team Byakko won't be allowed to fight during the preliminaries because they're the defending champs, so I suspect they want to take out anyone that might cause them some trouble in the long run."

_(rumbling in distane)_

"Did you hear that?" Tonya asked looking around.

"Hear what?" Quinton asked

(Rumbling gets louder)

"Yeah, what is that?" Jasmine asked

"GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY!" AJ screamed running out of the school's gym dragging Bria behind him. As they exited the building a large burst of flames destroyed the door. Adrian calmly following the fire and making his way over to his team. As he stepped closer Byakko members who were still conscious began to compose themselves and prepare for their orders.

"Well it looks like you all ha a little trouble with these guys." he asked them smiling.

"You told us not to go 100%, what did you expect." Tiara asked

"Yeah, well now that we're all here." Adrian turned to Jeremy and Nick. "Your team should probably not enter the tournament, if you know what opponents you'll be facing."

Jeremy stepped forward "Look, I know, what you're trying to do. We won't back down if that's the best you got."

"As I'm sure you noticed, only two of us used over half of our full power. Do you know why that is?" Adrian asked stepping away from the rest of his team

Walking towards him with AJ following Jeremy spoke, " I honestly don't care why but, if you're arrogant enough to think you can beat us at that level, you won't survive your sad excuse of an ambush."

With that AJ slammed his palms to the ground causing a ring of fire to surround the three of them and Jeremy landing a punch to Adrian's stomach. "I see you don't mind double teaming your enemies anymore." Adrian said taking a step back from the hit. AJ then dashed forward and delivered a kick into his chest.

"First off, this isn't a match it's a street fight and last time I checked ANYTHING goes in a street fight." AJ said covering his fist in flames. "And secondly did you think you lil punk bitches were the only ones holding back? We're 3 of the top ranked fighters in the school so step your game up."

"I see in that case." Adrian then motioned for his team to begin their attack. When he didn't hear the sounds of battle he turned away from AJ and saw his team unable to assist. Mason and Dominic still unconscious, Sarah and Valerie frozen in place by Nick's shadow-boxing, and Quinton pining Tiara behind a tree with a powerful gust of wind.

Turning back and seeing AJ rushing him again Adrian quickly dodged but was hit hard in the back with a punch from Jeremy. Moving away from both he fired a large stream of flames at Jeremy but was easily dodged.

"Heh, I guess you're right. I did underestimate you but, you still haven't seen my full power." before AJ or Jeremy could say anything Adrian surrounded himself in a pillar of fire. "This is why your ragtag bunch of weaklings will never beat us!" he screamed as his body features began to change. Adrian's ears became pointed, his teeth were now more jagged and he cloaked himself in a flaming armor giving himself the appearance of a canine. "This is my spirit's power 'Higitsune' the Fire Fox."

Shielding his eyes from the flames AJ began to laugh "That's it? Just a little coat of- AGH!" he was cut off by a burning punch to his stomach sending him flying and extinguishing the firewall he created.

"AJ!" Jeremy called out as AJ struggled to his feet from to surprise attack. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just peachy...you know nothing big just a few bruised ribs a little internal bleeding...the usual." He replied. Bria and Tonya ran over to keep him from falling over. Jeremy then took his position to attack Adrian, charging his hands with electricity he lounged at Adrian but was easily dodged and countered.

As Adrian readied to finish Jeremy off he increased the size of his flames again and pounced. Before he reach he was blasted away but a ray of light from the forest. Looking up he saw a boy around his age in an all white cloak with the hood covering his face fro being seen. Seeing him Adrian released his power and bowed before him "Michael, I didn't expect you to be here." he said not looking up.

"Don't give me that crap Adrian. You were hoping I wouldn't show up weren't you?" Michael said walking towards Jeremy. "I see, so its true you wanted to enter this year."

"Michael..."

"Let me guess you want to take me down, like when you betrayed my brother right."

"We never betrayed Cole. He brought it all on himself."

"Don't lie to me! I saw what you did." Turning away he looked at Team Byakko. "Stand up, we're leaving. As for you Jeremy, AJ, Quinton, the roles you three played in what happened to Cole will be answered for." with that Michael snapped his fingers causing a bright light to envelope the area for a second. When the light faded Byakko was gone and everyone began to look at Jeremy still on the ground, but before any questions could be asked he and AJ passed out from the damage caused from Adrian's flame enhanced punches.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** **I apologize again for the wait. I still have more college related crap to take care of, like changing my major and getting my schedule right. I am also going to begin writing a BLEACH story. So I have had a lot going on. Not sure when I will be able to update although I will as soon as I can so be on the lookout for Final Exam Chapter 5, and BLEACH: THE Broken Blade.**


	5. A Few Questions Answered

_**Ch 5: A Few Questions Answered.**_

Walking into the classroom AJ was quickly confronted by Tonya. Noticing the eye-patch covering his left eye she began to question him.

"Where have you been, and what's with that eye-patch?" she said with an angry frown upon her face.

"What are you talking about, I haven't been gone long." AJ replied tilting his head in confusion as Tonya's anger built.

"We lost contact with you and Jeremy for the last 3 days! That's what I'm talking about!" Tonya screamed at him. "We thought you guys got ambushed again, Quinton and Nick wouldn't tell us where you were and now you come back with an eye-patch!" she said with a noticeable worry in her voice.

"Relax Ton-Ton, I'm fine there's nothing you need to worry about." AJ said reassuring the angry/worried teen.

"I'm not worried about YOU, where's JEREMY!" She said punching AJ's chest.

"He's okay, why are you so mad?"

"Because you left us in the dark! First we get attacked and then all these weird things start happening, like that girl with the vines and you with that fire."

"Okay calm down. Its not that weird, well actually it is but it won't be much of a problem to explain."

"That's not all, after the fight more stuff started happening around me." Tonya said, shocking AJ she raised her hand to him and closed her eyes as a faint purple glow enveloped her hand. Grabbing her hand AJ shook her from her concentration causing the glow to fade.

"How long have you been able to do that?" He asked, his face turning serious

as he looked her eye to eyes.

Surprised by his seriousness Tonya began to panic, shakily answering "Since right after the fight."

"Alright, meet me after school with Jugs, I'll bring everyone else and we'll explain what's going on. So until then don't panic, and try not to use THAT power." AJ warned as the bell to begin class sounded.

* * *

Pulling Bria as they ran to the theater the team was using as their base of operations, Tonya's mind flooded with questions. What are these powers? Who is Michael and what is the betrayal he was talking about? Stopping at the front door she began to ready herself for what she may hear. Bria placed a hand on her shoulder bringing Tonya back to reality as they entered the building. First noticing Quinton skimming through the Weekly Shonen Jump and Jasmine asleep on the couch, the two girls sat down in the chairs across from the couch .

"Hey, Quinton. Have you seen AJ?" Brian asked as Tonya began to fidget in her seat.

"Yeah he just went to get some supplies we're gonna need."

"What supplies?" Bria asked looking over to Quinton, but before he could answer AJ and Nick entered the room both carrying a large book and a stack of blank papers. Setting the papers on the desk AJ placed his finger in front of his mouth signaling everyone to be quiet, he then pulled a small fold-out table from the corner and set it up next to Jasmine's head.

"AJ, what are you planning?" Nick asked as AJ lifted the heavy book over his head.

"SSSHHH. This is gonna be great." he said slamming it hard on the table causing Jasmine to spring up from her sleep.

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Jasmine screamed as she jolted upright.

"Well hello there sleepyhead, you ready to learn?"

"Learn what?" Jasmine asked and yawning,

"To do this." AJ responded creating a fireball in the palm of his hand then putting it out with flick of his wrist. "C'mon get up." he said as Nick began placing three sheets of paper on the main table in the middle of the room and began explaining their significance.

"These are Shinka or Evolution sheets, we're going to use them to focus your latent abilities." Nick said facing the girls now standing in front of him. "Jasmine you first. Place your hand on top of the paper." as she did the Shinka began to glow, "Now focus your mind on your hand." closing her eyes, her hand began to glow a dark green. Feeling something move beneath her hand she looked at Nick who nodded for her to remove her hand from the paper revealing a a flower bud with a very thin stem.

Looking at her hand Jasmine opened he mouth to ask a question but Nick had already begun to speak. "These papers have the ability to absorb energy, but they cant hold it so it uses whatever was absorbed right away. It looks like you're a nature type. Pretty fitting considering the eco-club."

"Nature type?" Jasmine questioned.

"Yeah, from what we just saw, we can assume you can at least case plants to grow where they normally wouldn't." He said turning to Bria. "Next up, I need you to do the same although I'm kinda sure what we're gonna see."

As Bria placed her hand on the paper it began to glow an off white color before fading out leaving her confused. "Just as I thought its null, so you power isn't elemental its a physical enhancement and if I'm right its your strength."

"Well that was kinda obvious, I mean she does have a tendency to punch people through brick walls." AJ said smiling. Everyone looked up as they heard the front door open and Jeremy walk in with skullcap with a blue dragon's head sewn into it and a small shoebox in tow. Before he could fully close the door behind him, he was tackled to the ground by Tonya who immediately began to beat on his chest.

"You JERK! Where have you been?" She screamed still hitting him.

"Sorry, I'm late. I just had to get us registered for the fights." Jeremy said pulling her up to her feet and seeing the shinka on the table he looked at Nick. "So, we're already doing 'that'?" Jeremy asked as a serious tone set in the room.

"We've already started." Nick informed. "Bria's is obviously her strength and Jasmine is at least plant-life maybe a little more. AJ has an idea of what Tonya's power is but, hopefully he's wrong." the last remark caused Tonya to look towards him.

"C'mon it can't be that bad. I bet if we just test it out it'll be nothing to worry about." Jeremy said motioning for Tonya to try the shinka. As her glowing hand came into contact with the paper the energy turned the shinka the same deep purple as her hand. "See it's not that bad, it's just psy-" before he could finish his thought the paper disintegrated leaving a small mound of dust on the table. "-shit. That's bad."

Tonya looked at Jeremy, "What's that mean?" she asked but before she was answered the room erupted in a loud shill ringing. Jeremy knowing what it was reached into the box he was carrying and removed a set of wristwatches and handed on to everyone in the room.

"Looks like its time to start the elimination round, let's use this as field training, don't let your watch get destroyed. Tonya stay with me, we'll finish up later." With that the team split into three groups and left their hideout.

* * *

At the schools football a large group of students wielding pipes and chains circled around three others.

"AJ, how did you get us in this situation already?" Bria asked looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"How you gonna blame me for this? Nick you got my back on this right?" AJ said looking for support.

Placing his hands into his leather jacket Nick answered, "You do understand that you can't call everybody in the area a "scaredy ass boot licking cunt-muffins " and then expect to walk away from it like nothing happened."

'Well I did, so don't think that you think you think you know what I think I won't do."AJ said crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

"...That made my brain hurt." Bria said bringing her hand to her forehead.

Shrugging AJ's comment off Nick then attempted to walk through the crowd of students but was attacked by large football player. Catching the teen's arm Nick noticed that he was wearing a battle watch, looking around he saw that the entire group was also wearing them. "AJ, Bria they're legal. Let's break their watches and move on." he said punching the larger boy's watch shattering it, after a second the broken watch released an electrical shock rendering the boy unconscious. "That's pretty convenient."

"So the X-Links (Cross Links) send shocks after they're broken?" Bria asked before testing it out on the poor teen AJ had in a headlock the shocking AJ in the process. "Sorry, I didn't think it would shock you too." she added as she began to fight off more of the surrounding group.

Tossing the boy to the side AJ responded smiling "Don't worry, that little buzz won't hurt me." breaking the x-link of 2 more students AJ asked "Wait, the heck is a x-link?" he asked as the three continued fighting.

"Look at the watch's strap. It's right there in big bold letters." Nick answered while sitting on top of a defeated pile of students. Seeing a flash of light in the distance Nick called out "GET DOWN BRIA!"

Immediately falling to the ground Bria saw small pen sized icicles stab into the remaining 6 students' X-Links and one inches away from her own. Nick and AJ dodged the ice aimed for them. Looking at the stands surrounding the field she saw a boy standing at about six feet tall, holding an icicle in his bare hand walking towards them. "Damn I missed, although six out of nine isn't so bad. I take it that you guys are Quinton's teammates?" he asked.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Will." Nick said looking at the sky begin to cloud and reaching behind his back. "I wouldn't have expected you to try and eliminate us all by yourself."

"Yeah? It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, I thought "hey if I can take these guys out, that's two less powerhouses to deal with later" but oh well." Will explained, "Anyway, where are Jeremy and Quinton?"

"They're clearing out some of the small fry, we can't let just any weaklings into the finals now can we." AJ answered as Bria finally got to her feet.

Breaking away from the topic "Who might this be, a new recruit?" Will asked. Dusting herself off Bria introduced herself, "Sorry I thought you were just another wannabe. So whats your team's name, I gotta know who to watch out for next round."

"Team name? I don't know. Jeremy just gave us the watches but the alarm went off before he could tell us anything." Bria said dropping her head.

"Why don't you just ask him now?" Will asked pointing to a button on the side of the x-link "Just use that walkie-talkie style."

Pushing the button Bria began to speak through the x-link, her voice being hear from AJ and Nick's as well. "Jeremy, come in. It's Bria. I got a question."

After a few seconds there was a beep and Jeremy's voice answered, "Yeah, I'm here how'd you find out about the communication feature?"

"Will told us." AJ spoke into his own.

"OH GOD DAMMIT!" Jeremy's yelled through the speaker.

"What is it, what's wrong?!" Bria asked alarmed

"There are gonna be so many damned prank calls in the middle of the night"

"Oh you know me so well, but that's not the point. What's our team name?"

"Is that all, we're team Seiryu." Jeremy replied

"Seiryu?" Nick repeated

"Yeah, its the name of the Azure Dragon of the East in Japanese mythology. Like the Byakko, the White Tiger of the West."

"So you named us based on our enemies?" Bria asked

"Yep, why not I mean the other captains thought it was a good idea."

"Why are you captain?" AJ asked

"AJ, tell me the names of your teammates and then I'll tell you."

"HAH! Easy, let's see there's you, Quincy, Jiggles, Dracula, Flipper, and Crazy Psycho Tree Bitch. Right?"

"I'm not even sure who you meant by half of those." he said, "Anyway I had to register as captain because I read the rules of the 2nd round and you would not like to be in that position."

"Speaking of which, when does the next round start?" Bria asked

"As soon as there are only eight registered teams remaining, so from how fast me and Tonya have bean cleaning up. I'd say within the next five minu-_**BEEP,**_ now. Get back to the theater, we're going to receive some more info on it soon."

"OK we're on our way." Nick replied. "Well Will it looks like we'll be seeing you in the tournament. Now don't lose, I'd hate for you to get away with trying to get that cheap shot off."

"Okay, okay, I got it, no losing. But that goes for you too." Will said walking away leaving the trio to themselves.

"Alright one step closer to breaking that smug bastard's face in." AJ said slamming his fists together.

"AJ, who are you talking about?" Bria questioned raising an eyebrow towards AJ.

"I don't know. It just felt like a badass moment of some anime/manga story."

"Dude, this isn't a story, It's not like we're just some two-dimensional characters from the mind of some 19 year old college student, that would be stupid." Nick responded to AJ statement.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES**_; Well that's chapter 5. got it finished a little earlier than expected. I just got some requests for some new characters to add, and now that the setup is over I can finally get down to the real story. Please Rate/Review and Subscribe. Don't miss CH 6. The Tournament Begins; First Round Pick and A Message Sent.


	6. WEEDING OUT THE WEAK

CH 6: Overkill, Weeding Out Weaklings.

_3 days after the preliminaries._

In an old warehouse, hundreds of students surrounding a very large elevated stage in center of the room cheered as a young man stood with a microphone in hand. "WHAT'S UP FIGHT FANS! YOU ALL KNOW ME, BUT FOR THOSE NEWBIES IN THE PLACE I'M DJ ROLLING STAR AND I WILL BE THE M.C. TO THIS THREE DAY EVENT!" he screamed through the mic, his voice booming from the speakers placed around the room causing the crowd to scream louder. "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME BLOOD?" pumping the crowd up even more "ALRIGHT! NOW BEFORE WE GET DOWN TO THE GOREFEST, I GOTTA LAY A FEW RULES ON YA. FOR THE FANS, STAY BEHIND THE BARRIER FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. FIGHTERS, ARE ALLOWED TO USE ANY WEAPON THEY OWN AND USE ANY TRICK IN OR OUT THE BOOK. THE ONLY GOAL IS TO EITHER FORCE YOUR OPPONENT TO SUBMIT OR MORE PERFERABLY BEAT THEM UNTIL THEY ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE! ANY QUEESTIONS? GOOD! THE MATCHUPS HAVE EEN DECIDED BEFOREHAND AND ARE POSTED ON EVERY EXIT AND ON THIS REALLY BIG BOARD ON THE BACK WALL. NOW GO GET SOME SNACKS CUZ THE FIRST FIGHT STARTS IN TWENTY MINUTES!" DJ Rolling Star's speech got the crowd excited and ready for the matches to begin while back in the locker rooms all the competitors waited quietly for the battles to starts.

"AW YEA WE BOUT TO BEAT THE DOG SHIT OUTTA THESE PUNKS!" …...well almost all. AJ had just found out when team Seiryu's first fight would be held. Wearing an open black button down shirt with flames printed on the tail over a white t-shirt he ran into the room holding a copy of the tournament bracket.

"AJ, you do know, that we have to wait two matches until our turn right?" Jasmine asked looking over the the paper she added "and there's no way we'll fight Byakko before the final round."

"I know that but still, look at how many more people we get to warm up on!" he said with a smile causing Tonya to face-palm.

'Hey Nick, have you seen Jeremy?" Tonya asked looking at the boy in a black trench coat, Kevlar vest, laced up combat boots and a small baton strapped to his shin.

"Yeah, before I made it here he said he had some "toys" to pick up." Nick answered tying his hair back.

"TOYS, we having some kinda orgy in here? Cause the dick to tit ratio is off and I'm telling you now, I am not sharing!" AJ yelled causing Bria to blush and the other four to fall completely silent scratching their heads trying to find out hoe to respond to possibly the most random statement AJ's made in the last two hours. After a few moments of confused silence the door opened and Jeremy entered the room wearing an open white vest with a yellow shirt reading "H IGH VOLTAGE" underneath and two metallic wristbands with lightning-bolt designs and dragging a large chest behind him.

Seeing the looks on his teammates faces and the smile on AJ's face he asked, "What did he do this time?" placing the chest on the bench and sitting down.

"Hey, why do you think that I said something?" AJ asked offended at the thought.

"I never said that you did anything, I only said "he". Now that I know you did I'll leave it alone because it's probably something I don't want to know." Jeremy clarified turning the combination lock on the chest.

Watching Jeremy, Tonya asked "What's with the box? Is it some kind of secret weapon?"

Finally opening it Jeremy answered, "Weapon, yes, but not a secret. I got these from my dad this morning but he wanted to be an asshole and hide the combination." Pulling out a sheathed black handled katana and slid it through his belt loop then pushing the box over so the others could could select their own. AJ grabbing two shorter swords, strapping them to his back. Quinton hooking the two chain scythes into his dark green windbreaker. Tonya found a single chakram beneath the larger weaponry letting it hang from the tassel of her purple hoodie. Bria slipped on a pair of weighted fingerless gloves and Jasmine was drawn to the simple waxed staff. Nick opted to keep the baton he had brought with him. "Oh, that reminds me, here's that delivery you were waiting for." Jeremy added removing a smaller baton from his vest and handing it over.

"Thanks, I'm probably not gonna need it now though." He said connecting it to the baton he already had.

"Well if everyone is ready, we should probably go talk to Team Suzuka, I read the bracket on the way here and if they win their gonna have to take on Byakko next round.' Jeremy said as he began walking out into the hallway. Followed by his team he made his way down the hall and knocked on the door receiving no answer.

"I got this." AJ said smiling

"Why don't I like that smile?' Quinton asked and was answered when AJ kicked in the door, knocking it off its hedges. Looking in the team noticed the floor was covered in a layer of ice with seven people spread out around the room. "What the frozen hell man, couldn't you knocked like a normal person?"

"But i did knock...just hard." AJ stated following Jeremy into the room.

"Oh, it's you. Hey Jeremy. Johnathan, come here." said the short dark haired girl idly flipping a coin with her thumb as a slightly taller dark skinned boy stepped forward, the room seeming to get colder the closer he got. "Is this the team you entered?"

"Hey Kristen. Yeah, these are the ones I told you about. We came here to make sure you guys are ready for Byakko." Jeremy answered.

"Yeah, you better believe it." Kristen said, noticing the bands on Jeremy's wrists and AJ's shoes she added, "So I'm guessing you guys are planning to use those again, have the seals been broken yet?" she asked.

Her question caused the girls to wonder what she meant by seal. "No, but I doubt we can win without them if it comes down to me and Michael in the finals." Jeremy answered.

"Well that's where we have a little problem." Kristen stated

"Yeah, that would mean you guys don't think we can win and I personally take offense to that." Johnathan added. "But, I'll let it slide this time, any how many days do you have saved up?" he said changing the subject.

"So far about three, I'm still going to need at least two more before I can take Michael at his full power."

"Well I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you." Johnathan said holding his hand out and covering it in ice to form claws. "Because we're going to leave you guys a little disappointed."

"So you think you can beat them?" Quinton asked.

"Not at all. We KNOW we will beat them." Johnathan clarified.

"Hah, well it looks like you guys are pumped up for this." Jeremy said beginning to walk out of the door, "but before we leave, I have one thing left to ask. How do you plan to defeat Byakko?"

"Easily," Kristen replied flipping the coin in her hand and letting it fall to the floor with surprising force creating a small crater in the layer of ice, "We'll crush 'em."

Back in the main building the competitors waited atop the elevated walkway above the audience waiting for Rollin' Star to call the first two teams down.

As if attempting to torture the bloodthirsty crowd Rollin Star slowly made his way to the ring. Clearing his throat he began, "ALRIGHT EVERYBODY, MAKE SOME NOISE! THE FIRST MATCH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN, SO GET READY FOR SOME ACTION!" he screamed into the microphone. "NOW I NEED THE REIGNING CHAMPS TEAM BYAKKO AND THEIR FIRST OPPONENTS...TEAM ISCARIOT TO COME DOWN!"

Making their way to the ring. Team Byakko minus Michael stopped in front of Team Seiryu. Adrian took this as a chance to apply a little psychological warfare. "I see you've made it, such a shame you won't be winning the whole thing." Beginning to walk away Adrian stopped next to AJ and whispered "Watch closely, you might learn something.". AJ began to strike him but was stopped by Jeremy.

Now in the ring Adrian stood as Iscariot was choosing who should face him. Adrian grabbed the mic from Rollin Star and spoke into it "Look there's no point in choosing one person. You are ALL too weak to defeat me alone so here is a little help. All of you against me. Do you accept?" His question shocking Iscariot and all in the audience except Teams Seiryu, Genbu and Suzuka.

From in the fighter's area Bria looked on confused and asked, "Hey AJ why would he do that? Wouldn't it cut his chance of winning?"

Still agitated from Adrian's earlier taunt AJ answered clutching his fist, "Normally yes but, this isn't a fight he'd ever lose. He's just screwing with them and that's not all."

"Why else is he doing this? Why take on all seven when he only needs to beat four?"

"It's pretty simple, he's not focusing on them. He wants to try and psych us out, or more specifically AJ." Jeremy stated

"So, what are we gonna do?" Jasmine asked leaning over the rail to get a full view of the ring.

"We're gonna psych them right back." AJ said "I'm gonna take out team Wild Angel myself."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Tonya asked "I mean you'll be falling right into their trap."

"Hell yea I'm sure, I ain't gonna sit back and let Ballsy McGee there try and punk me out."

"OK there all yours but don't go overboard, Byakko hasn't seen any of our full power in two years, let's not give them a sneak peak." Jeremy said, as the team quieted down to watch the match.

Taking the bait, team Iscariot entered the ring and prepared to fight seven against one, not knowing that the odds of their winning was still exactly zero. As they took their stances surrounding Adrian they noticed that he hadn't even been looking at them. "You may begin when ready." Rollin Star said signaling the start of the fight. The two Iscariot members behind Adrian dashed forward in an attempt to land the first blow but were easily dodged. Adrian awaiting their next attack called out to the Iscariot team leader, "Strike One.".

Adrian then began to dodge the flurry of attacks from the four members brave enough to fight him head on, disappearing from sight his voice was heard behind the leader. "Strike Two." Adrian said causing the entire team to become frozen with fear finally understanding their position and powerlessness against him. In response to his fear their leader's instincts took over with him swinging at Adrian's head with a metal pipe.

Catching it Adrian transferred his flame through it forcing the leader to release it. Cracking a smile Adrian finished his count "Strike Three. You're Out.". Creating a large tower of flames Adrian expanded the flames to cover the ring engulfing team Iscariot. Screams of pain began to spread through the building as even the crowd went mute in the sheer madness.

Cutting through the screams like a knife through butter came the pained voice of the leader, "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE STOP THIS!". Dismissing the flames Adrian began to laugh as the smell of burnt flesh filled the building replacing the screams.

Rollin Star still in shock from the horrible display of power was barely able to pull himself back together. "I-IT LOOKS L-LIKE IT'S OVER! TEAM ISCARIOT HAS SURRENDERED. THE WINNER IS ADRIAN OF TEAM BYAKKO!". As he spoke Adrian began to leave the ring to join his team in the combatant zone and the defeated Iscariot members were wheeled out of the arena by the medic team.

Back in team Seiryu's area the girls sat down completely disgusted by the abuse of power displayed by Adrian. Shaking in her seat Bria asked "Why would he go so far?"

Looking disappointed Jeremy answered, "No he didn't but, that's not the point he wanted to send a message and I think he got his point across.".

Slamming his fist on the rail AJ jumped down into the ring stopping Adrian from exiting. "What the hell is your malfunction!"

Grinning at his anger Adrian replied innocently "What do you mean? I don't see what I did wrong."

"You know damn well you went too far. There was no reason for the fire!" AJ yelled covering his fist in flames and preparing to attack. Adrian began to surround himself in the same flames from his transformation three days before. AJ seeing this began to rush at Adrian with his first raised but in a flash of light both where stopped. Nick had his arm wrapped around AJ's neck supported by Quinton with his chain holding AJ's fist back while Jeremy and Johnathan interrupted Adrian with an electrified ice wall.

"AJ, calm down. I know what you're thinking but we can't fight him outside the scheduled matches no matter what." Jeremy said not taking his eyes off Adrian. Calming down AJ allowed his flames to subside and was released immediately leaving to the locker room. Releasing Adrian, the five left the ring for the next match to begin but not before Adrian left a message for AJ.

"Tell that fool of yours, if he seriously thinks he has any chance against me then he better not lose before the final round.".

Returning to the rest of the team Jeremy sat down without saying a word. Nick looking over the guardrail broke the silence, "Jeremy, is it just me or did you notice something a little...off about that guy?"

Looking up Jeremy replied, "Yeah, I sensed it too. There's something wrong here, that wasn't how Adrian fights."

"What do you mean?" Bria asked

"Well, how can I put it, it was too wasteful." Jeremy answered "It was more like using a nuke on an ant."

"Exactly, what the hell is going on with these guys?" Nick wondered.

Back in the ring Rollin Star grabbed his mic, "ALRIGHT, THAT WAS A PRETTY MESSED UP WAY TO START THIS SUCKA OFF, BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING. NOW LETS GET THE TEAMS FOR FIGHT NUMBER TWO DOWN HERE. TEAMS SUZUKA AND SOUT-" before being able to call the second team, a young man in a footlocker uniform ran on stage and whispered into his ear. "SO YOU'RE SAYIN' THEY QUIT?" whispering again the young man clarified "WAIT, HOW MANY? THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT, OH WELL.". Turning back to the crowd, "PEOPLE I GOT SOME NEWS FOR YOU, IT SEEMS SOME OF OUR HOT SHOT QUALIFIERS HAVE BEEN SCARED SHITLESS! SO IT LOOKS LIKE ROUND ONE IS GONNA BE SKIPPED AS WE GO INTO THE SEMI-FINALS! THE TEAMS WHO WILL BE FIGHTING TOMOROW WILL BE, MATCH ONE: BYAKKO VS SUZUKA, SINCE THE SOUTHERN WINDS HAVE FORFEITED! MATCH TWO WILL BE BETWEEN SEIRYU AND GENBU! SO DON'T BE LATE AND BRING YOUR SUNSCREEN AND A FAN CUZ IF IT'S GONNA BE ANYTHING LIKE WHAT WE JUST WITNESSED, IT'S GONNA GET HOT IN HERE!"

**Author's Note: Hey guys, I kinda got side tracked halfway through and forgot how I planned to end this chapter so I had to think up an ending on the spot to transition into CH7. I plan on starting the serious fights next chapter, so be ready for Byakko vs. Suzuka. THANKS FOR READING.**


	7. Round Two, Round Robin

**CH 7: Contracted: Round Two, Round Robin**

In the forest area near the school Jeremy stood by as Tonya tried to catch her breath. "Come on Tonya, you gotta focus." he said placing his hand on a tree with very large slashes in the trunk.

"I'm trying." Tonya replied raising her chakrams and began focusing her energy causing the blades to glow a bright purple.33

"Now throw it!" Jeremy instructed as Tonya tossed it towards the tree, the impact nearly splitting the tree in half.

"Damn, almost had it." Tonya said catching the blade as it returned to her.

"Yeah but almost isn't enough for the team we we're going to face today. Go ahead and take a break." He said. Walking to the heavily damaged tree and inspecting the gash. "I guess that's enough for today, lets get a little sparring in before tonight's match."

"You sure? We only have a few hours right?"

"Of course I'm sure, but it'd be more effective if the others joined in too." Jeremy said pressing a button on his X-link. "Hey guys, I need you to meet us." After a few moments Nick's voice came through,

"What's up?" he asked,

"We should do some team sparring since today is double fall round."

Jeremy answered, "Just meet us at the old mall."

"I'll bring my pliers." Nick said.

Lowering the communicator, Jeremy called out "Hey, Arthur! Come on out I know you're here!"

Walking from behind a tree a few yards away Arthur waved to Tonya. "Yo."

"Don't "yo" me, how long have you been watching?" Tonya asked glaring at him.

"Since the beginning, now lets go." Jeremy said leading Tonya away, "And Arthur make yourself useful and help out."

"Yeah,yeah. I guess I've got nothing better to do." Arthur answered following.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Nick stood outside a large fence, the entrance chained and locked. Removing two small cylinders from his pocket at connecting the he took a step away from the chain-link fence. Slinging his arm, the cylinders elongated with a blade emerging from the tip becoming a black spear. Nick then slashed the chain effortlessly cutting through the lock.

"Aye Nick! I was gonna do that!" AJ screamed running towards him with his twin blades drawn and Bria following. Lunging at Nick, AJ began a slashing movement but was stopped by Nick's spear. "Good thing you blocked, that one could of got messy." AJ said grinning.

"Yeah, but you forgot something," Nick said twirling his spear, using the handle to knock AJ off balance and sweeping him to the ground before placing the blade top his neck. "Don't drop your guard, especially against me." he added shortening his weapon and helping AJ up.

"What was that all about?" Bria asked slightly confused.

"Don't worry about it Chest-melons." AJ said sheathing his swords. "Dracula, shouldn't they others be here by now." as he finished a powerful gust went by nearly knocking Bria off her feet, followed by a small tornado that stopped a few yards before them. As the wind dispersed sending leaves into the air, Quinton and Jasmine stood back to back.

"So how was that entrance?" Quinton asked the chain from his kusarigama falling to the ground as he held the blades across his chest.

"Eh, a little too flashy for my taste, but the crowd might like it for the fights." Nick said shrugging his shoulders and leaned on the fence.

Hitting Quinton in the head with her staff, Jasmine spoke, "I told you it was too much."

Rubbing his head Quinton added, "Well you can't say it wasn't cool." he defended.

Sighing Jasmine gave up, and decided to lie down in the grass. "Whatever...wait, what the hell is that?" she asked pointing to a telephone-line with a large surge a visible electricity moving towards them.

As everyone else looked up the surge stopped and revealed Jeremy, holding a sick looking Arthur and Tonya by their shirts. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad you big babies." he said before hopping off dropping the two as he landed. "Hey guys, you ready to start?"

"Yeah, we are, but what the hell did you do to them?" Quinton asked as AJ poked the nearly unconscious two with his sheathed sword.

"Nothing, just a little training. Speaking of which I think the best way to work out before the fight is-"

"Let me guess, split into two teams and go at it right?" Nick interrupted.

"Exactly, So it'll be Me, Nick, Bria and Jasmine. Vs the rest of you, everybody OK with that?"

"Yeah, now come on lets do this!"AJ said running into the abandoned mall dragging Tonya and Arthur in behind him as Quinton followed.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Now awake, Tonya and Arthur hid behind a counter in what used to be a Petco, watching Bria and Jasmine walk through in search of them. Arthur reached into his pocket and removed a pair of brass knuckles. Revealing himself Arthur called out lunging towards Bria fists raised, "Meteor Break!" he called out. Luckily Bria was able to counter his punch in time with a punch of her own sending shock-waves throughout the store breaking all the glass in the room. The two continued exchanging powerful strikes, their partners emerging to assist them instead began their own battle.

Jasmine began by calling forth a defensive wall of vines before attacking with two more which were easily cut down by Tonya's chakrams. Jasmine then decided to wrap he vines around her in a tower. "Gonna need to do better than that!" Tonya warned sending one of her blades through the greenery shocked to see that it hit nothing. "What the hell?" she questioned as her chakram began to return to her but was caught bu Jasmine who hung upside down with her staff through the center of Tonya's weapon.

"Nice try, but I think I win here." Jasmine said smiling.

"You think so?" Tonya said attempting to throw her second blade but was stopped by another thick vine holding it back. "But...when?"

"As soon as you tossed the first one." Jasmine answered releasing Tonya and returning he weapon. Looking over they noticed Arthur and Bria resting leaning on a few of the only still standing aisles left in the room and were about to join until they heard a large explosion coming from the mall's central plaza.

Looking out the four of them saw Quinton and AJ release an enormous flame attack "BLAZING INFERNO!" but before the attack could hit Nick and Jeremy countered with a powerful blast of their own. "Shadow Bolt!" sending a large black lightning beam into the sea of flames caused a huge explosion that condensed into a dark ball that enveloped all eight of the students.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Waking up the Girls realized that they were in an unknown dark forest with Quinton, Jeremy, Nick and AJ all spread out facing different directions. Walking to Jeremy, Tonya began to ask what was going on but was stopped by the sounds of large footsteps and the dragging of chains. As the source of the sound came into view Tonya look around to see the same happening on all four sides.

From the darkness before Jeremy came a loud growling voice, "SO HUMAN, YOU HAVE RETURNED. WHY?" The voice asked as it came closer.

"I've come to form a contract once again." Jeremy said stepping forward a bolt of lightning crashing down upon him.

"AFTER YOU SEALED ME HERE YOU WANT TO ASK FOR MY POWER, MORTAL! WHT KIND OF TROUBLE HAS YOUR RACE STUBLED ONTO?"

"The Archangel has returned." Jeremy said flatly the lightning still continuously shocking him. "And also has allied himself with a powerful Inari spirit."

With a powerful roar the a flash of light the source of the became visible, a large white tiger with zigzagging stripes appeared chains binding his paws and around his neck "THE ARCHANGEL! ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE SAME ONE AS BEFORE?" the tiger asked.

"Not 100% but what are the chances that two of the three would appear at the same location only two years apart?"

"VERY WELL, I WILL ONCE AGIN BESTOW MY POWER UPON YOU HUMAN, NOW BREAK THIS SEAL AND CLAIM THE POWER OF RAIKO!" grabbing the chains caused them to shatter releasing the beast from his entrapment turning itself into a lightning bolt as firing itself directly into Jeremy's chest causing a transformation. Jeremy's hair turned white, grew a tail, and displayed the tiger's unique stripped pattern across his arms and face. Turning around Jeremy looked towards the AJ, Nick, and Quinton.

"Jeremy what just happened?" Tonya asked, Jeremy only responded with a smile pointing to the sky above the other three. Turning around Tonya saw three more beast transforming into flames, a tornado and an orb of darkness before fusing with their respective element user.

"You just witnessed a spirit pact being made." Jeremy said his voice doubling over itself.

"Spirit pact?" Tonya asked not fully understanding.

"Don't worry you'll find out soon enough." he said, generating a ball of light that shined upon the area blinding Tonya.

Coming to her senses Tonya noticed that none of them had moved from their position since the explosion. The four still in the plaza looked up as their X-Links began to ring signaling the start of the second round prompting the team to leave the mall for their first fight of the tournament.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"**ALRIGHT FIGHT FANS, WE'RE BACK FOR WHAT I HOPE IS ANOTHER DAY OF BLOODSHED, BUT BEFORE WE GET TO THE GOOD STUFF I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" **Rolling star screamed through his mic. "**FIRST BECAUSE OF THE PANSIES CHICKENING OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND WE HAVE BEEN FORCED TO CHANGE UP THE FORMAT, SO INSTEAD OF A TWO MATCH 2ND ROUND WE WILL BE HOLDING A ROUND ROBIN DOUBLE ELIMINATION ROUND. THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, FIRST ALL TEAMS WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO BATTLE EACH OTHER ONCE, THE TEAMS WHO LOSE TWO MATCHES ARE ELIMINATED LEAVING THE REMAINING TWO TO BATTLE IT OUT IN THE FINAL ROUND, AND SECONDLY THE FINAL ROUND WILL BE OPEN FOR ONLY FIVE MEMBERS ON EACH TEAM. SO WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY LET THE BLOODBATH BEGIN, SEIRYU VS GENBU WILL TAKE PLACE HERE AND SUZUKA VS BYAKKO IN WAREHOUSE 13, BOTH MATCHES BEGINS IN 15 MINUTES SO CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITES AND GET READY FOR SOME BRUTALITY!" **

In their locker room team Seiryu awaited their curtain call, sighing Quinton spoke, "Man that guy really knows how to get these psychos excited for a match they don't have to fight."

Standing up Jeremy decided it was time to select their battle rotation. "OK guys we gotta win two matches, so we need to decide who fights when."

"I'll go first." Nick said standing up. Raising her hand Bria agreed to fight second, followed by Jasmine.

"AND I'LL FINISH OUR GRAND SWEEP WITH A FIRERY EXPLOSION!" AJ screamed turning up the fireworks in the locker-room causing Jasmine to swat him with her staff.

"That plan only works if we can win the first four matches doesn't it?" Quinton asked, "If that's the case I'll go fifth if necessary."

"Good, so worst case scenario we tie with three wins. Let's get going, we don't want to keep the savages waiting." Jeremy said leading the team to the upper levels.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Standing next to the ring stood Rolling Star with his microphone held high as he addressed the audience. **"ALRIGHT EVERYONE THE TIME YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, STARTING THE SECOND ROUND OF OUR TOURNAMENT IS SEIRYU: A NEWLY CONSTRUCTED TEAM CONTAING FOUR OF THE STRONGEST FIGHTERS OUR SCHOOL HAS SEEN IN YEARS, AND GENBU: KNOWN AS THE GUARDIANS OF OUR SCHOOLS NORTHERN GATE. THIS SHOULD BE AN INTERESTING MATCHUP SO LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED RIGHT! TEAMS SEND DOWN YOUR STARTING COMPETITORS!"**

With the starting ceremony over Nick began his descent into the ring when Tonya called out, "GOOD LUCK!"

Looking over his shoulder and giving an unsettling grin he responded, "Save it, I won't need it." and continued.

As he took his place across his opponent, a tall but skinny boy, younger than himself stood smiling with his hands in his short jean pocket with a long but thin cord connected to a pair of headphones hanging around his neck.

"**IT LOOKS LIKE OUR FIGHTERS ARE READY, AND FOR ALL OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH THESE FACES. FOR SEIRYU IN THE LONG BLACK TRENCH COAT IS THE KING OF CONNECTIONS, NICK NASH! HIS OPPONENT IN THE TRADITIONAL STONER UNIFORM IS DAVID FERGUSON THE KID KNOWN TO DANCE ACROSS THE BATTLEFIELD. WHENEVER YOU GUYS ARE READY...BEGIN!"**

As the MC finished David placed his headphones on his ears and stared at Nick with a goofy smile. Taking the bait Nick dashed forward in an attempt to sweep David's legs from beneath him but was surprised to see the boy counter by flipping into a handstand and catching his foot with an open palm. David then brought his own foot crashing into Nick's chest before putting distance between them.

"GAH!" Nick exclaimed not from pain, just surprise at the proficiency of the boy's counter. Standing up Nick attacked again, this time stopping short of contact, changing his punch into a jumping kick barely grazing David in the process as the boy dodged and moved farther away from him before Nick could capture his shadow. _(Damn, almost got him.)_ Nick thought to himself. Seeing David's smile widen, Nick asked "What's got you so happy?"

Letting out a small laugh David replied, "I bet you're thinking you got me with that last hit right? Well I hate to be the one to tell you but the reason they sent me to fight you is simple." his words getting Nick's attention. "My ability is a perfect counter for you."

"A counter?" Nick said, "What ability? You haven't done anything but dodge."

"Are you sure? Let me give you a hint. What was the first thing I did here?" David asked.

Thinking back Nick realized what he meant, "Those headphones, that sound, you've been listening to music this whole time."

"You got me,well almost, the music is just a medium for my power." David said rushing to Nick and attacking with a flurry of kicks and flips forcing Nick to put all his effort into blocking. "It's a passive ability, I like to call it a Counter Rhythm. How do you like it?" he said continuing his assault barely giving an opening for Nick to retaliate.

In the team area team Seiryu watched the battle closely. Seeing Nick being toyed with, caused Tonya to begin to worry. "Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked her teammates.

Smiling Jeremy answered, "He'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Tonya asked watching as Nick kept defending himself.

"Of course, David's movements may be a good way to counter Nick's shadowboxing, but that's not his only way of attack. Watch closely cause Nick is about to show off."

Back on the stage David kept his attacks going, seeing a grin appear across Nick's face caused him to stop and jump back as far as he could. His own smile fading he asked "You're losing, what do you have to smile about?"

"Looks like you're not the only one being underestimated here. I guess that you think that just because you're moving too much for me to capture your shadow you have this match won right?" Nick said looking at his own through the corner of his eye, "But don't you dare think that's my only way I use my power. Pay attention cause you might learn something." clasping his hands together Nick began focusing his energy into his shadow causing it to expand.

Not noticing David became irritated. "So you're just gonna stand there. Fine! I'll just take you down now!" he said running to Nick at full speed.

"Heh, gotcha. SHADOW SPIKE!" He called as his shadow pulled from the floor, stretching into spears aimed for the younger boy. David did the only thing he could, turning enough to dodge but was still hit, one shallow stab in his left leg and cut on his left shoulder.

"Agh!" He exclaimed and attempted to move but was slowed enough for Nick to appear next to him, standing in his shadow using his spike to cut the cord connecting David's headphones to his mp3 player and placing another inches from his neck. "Damnit, I thought I had you there." lowering his head, he called out. "Sorry guys, couldn't pull that win out for us. Nick, you're good so you better not lose to anyone else or it'll make me look bad. I surrender." deactivating his power Nick helped his defeated opponent to his feet as the crowd erupted with applause.

Yelling into the microphone Rolling Star announced, "**ALRIGHT THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE ****SECOND ROUND OF THIS TOURNAMENT GOES TO NICK FROM TEAM SEIRYU, THREE MORE WINS AND WE CAN CALL THIS A MATCH! LETS GET THE NEXT BATTLE UNDERWAY, TEAMS PLEASE SEND YOUR NEXT FIGHTERS!"**

Returning to the team Nick took his seat on the metal bench "Well, that's one down." Jeremy said, looking towards Bria who stared at the stage nervously. Nudging AJ he motioned to her.

Walking to her unnoticed, AJ placed his hand on her back getting her attention. Smiling at her, he could feel the tension leave her body before adding pressure...and pushing Bria over the guardrail causing her to fall onto the stage with a loud THUD. This action earned AJ tow hard strikes to his head by Tonya and Jasmine.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" He asked rubbing the back of his head.

Ignoring his question Jasmine looked at Bria slowly getting to her feet. "Are you okay?" she asked seeing Bria stand up.

"Yeah, the floor broke my fall." Bria said dusting herself off as her opponent stepped onto the stage. A short light skinned girl entered, her red hair reaching her shoulders.

Hearing Bria's answer the girl began giggling. "You're funny." she said smiling.

"Thanks, but I wasn't trying to be funny." Bria replied. Both girls looking towards Rolling Star signaling they were ready to begin.

"**OKAY EVERYBODY THIS TIME WE HAVE TWO FIRST TIMERS FOR SEIRYU WE HAVE POSSIBLY THE PHYSICALLY STRONGEST GIRL IN THE ACADEMY BRIA ANDERS AND FOR GENBU NON OTHER THAN THE CAPTAIN OF OUR TRACK TEAM LAINEY WALKER. YOU MAY BEGIN WHEN READY!"**

Hearing her name AJ's attention snapped, "Walker? Don't tell me she's-"

"Yeah, that's Adrian's little sister." Nick interrupted.

"Do you think Jugs has a chance of winning this one?" AJ asked.

Lying down on the bench Nick replied staring at the ceiling. "Not likely. Lainey may not be anywhere near Adrian's level but, unlike Bria she's had extensive training."

Hearing the conversation Jasmine began to worry, asking out loud "So are you saying that she's screwed?"

"I wouldn't go that far, but this doesn't look like it'll end well for her."

As the battle began Bria rushed to the smaller girl throwing a heavy punch at her stomach. Shockingly there was no contact making Bria lose her balance and nearly fall over. Turning around she saw Lainey sitting on the opposite side of the stage twirling her finger in her hair. "What are you doing?" she asked still giggling.

"How did you?" Bria began but stopped and rushed the girl again, but as before her target vanished only to appear behind her again.

"She's fast." Bria said to herself making a mental note that her speed couldn't match Lainey as she attempted to devise a better plan of action.

Lainey, deciding Bria wasn't on the same level that she was, dashed in releasing a flurry of strikes to her torso, not noticing Bria's eyes begin to glow an off-white color and finishing with a hard kick to her side knocking her to the ground.

Seeing her teammate facedown on the floor Jasmine called out to her, "C'mon Bria, you have to get up. You're stronger than this." before she could finish Bria began to slowly rise, her body glowing slightly. "Guys what's going on?" Jasmine asked

"Looks like she has a chance of winning now." Quinton said closely watching Bria walk towards Lainey.

"What are you talking about? What's that light?" she asked again.

Looking over Jeremy answered, "That "light" is the first step to awakening your spirit, we went through it a few years ago and sooner or later you will. Just watch the rest carefully

Seeing her opponent back on her feet Lainey turned back to her and unleashed another barrage this time stronger than before. Even though being hit with numerous powerful strikes Bria did not seem phased. Seeing an opening in Lainey's attack pattern Bria countered with a hard punch into her chest sending her flying across the stage.

Before Lainey could move in to attack Bria a voice called out from Team Genbu's side, "Lainey! Don't hold back! You need to finish this NOW!". The voice belonged to Will. Hearing her ally's voice Lainey focused covering herself in a bright yellow light and ran along the edge of the ring picking up more and more speed with each turn until she was little more than a blur. After disappearing from normal human sight she used her speed to increase the power of her punch as she directed herself towards Bria.

As if sensing her location despite her speed Bria still radiating energy was able to counter, the two girls' fists colliding as their power struggle raged. The force of the contact was strong enough to be felt by the onlookers standing on the front row. Their auras melded together creating a explosion of energy that nearly destroyed the stage and filled the area with smoke.

Waiting for the smoke to clear both teams looked on surprised that the two were able to create such a commotion in their public debut.

After a few minutes the gas began to disperse revealing Bria collapsed and Lainey shakily standing as a roar escaped the crowd watching the match.

Rushing from their zone, Jeremy, AJ and Jasmine ran to their unconscious fighter. "C'mon Jugs, hah who do you think you are? Surprising people like that." AJ said lifting her onto his back.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Lainey asked leaning against a black haired teammate with Will and a blonde haired boy with a skateboard behind. stopping in front of AJ she waited.

"Yeah, she should be fine. You really put on a show." AJ said

"Thanks." she said seeing the dark-skinned boy helping her starring AJ down through his slightly tinted glasses.

"You're AJ right? The one who gave Adrian a bloody nose?" he asked AJ nodding in response. "I'm Terrell, are you as strong as they said?"

"What you wanna find out?" AJ asked "I'm in the fourth match, if you wanna go meet me then." He said walking past them.

Watching Lainey getting helped up the stairs Will and the blonde boy walking with him moved towards Jeremy and Jasmine. "Man that was a little more than I expected." Will said grinning shaking hands with Jeremy. "Oh. Is she going to fight next?" He asked looking at Jasmine.

"Yeah, this is Jasmine." Jeremy said.

"Nice to meet ya." Jasmine said nervously.

"Likewise. Oh before I forget, this is Trent he'll be your opponent."

"What's up." Trent said pushing his hair back with his hand revealing black nail polish and a spiked band on his wrist. "Oh yeah fair warning, I can't really control myself in a fight so if I hurt you sorry."

His words making Jasmine angry, before she could respond Jeremy placed his hand on her shoulder. "Have fun." He said walking away as the two readied themselves.

**Authors Notes:**** Well guys, I need to cut this chapter shorter than ****I intended seeing as i'm running close to the deadline I set for myself, I should have chapter 8 ready by mid February, and also another original story I'm thinking of calling "Reapers" so thanks for reading.**


	8. Contact

Chapter 8: Contact

As the battle between Jasmine and Trent began across town, Mr. Coleman was working in the kitchen. Lowering a batch of meatballs into a pot of oil he called out, "Hey Boss! I'm takin' a smokin break!". As he moved towards the back door of the restaurant a feminine voice replied, "Make it quick Ray, its almost time for the dinner rush.". Opening the door leading to an alley he leaned against the wall pulling a cigarette box from his pocket placing it into his mouth and replacing the box. Looking to see if anyone was nearby he placed his index finger on the tip of the cig igniting it with a small flame from his fingertip.

"Alright, I know you're there, what do you want?" He said as a young man slightly older than AJ stepped from around the corner a black white hood covering his face in darkness.

In a monotone voice he spoke. "I've been sent by Master Zeus to deliver a message." kneeling in front of the smoking man.

"So it's finally time to decide." Mr. Coleman said exhaling the smoke.

"Yes sir, he requested me to inform you of his arrival along with four of the others."

"Four more? Who else is coming?"

"I'm sorry sir but I do not have that knowledge. Also I was instructed to deliver this." the messenger said handing Mr. Coleman a sealed pitch black envelope. "I must return to my master." he said the older man nodding in response signaling his permission to depart.

As the messenger left Ray sighed, putting out his cigarette on the side of the restaurant and reentering the building staring intently at the unopened message. Entering the kitchen he slipped it into his pocket "What the hell is he thinking, if we move now we might get "his" attention." he whispered to himself.

Scene Change *

Vines protrude from the ground surrounding the edge of the stage, swinging down after Trent as he quickly rolled past on his board barely dodging the vines. Jasmine surrounded herself in two defensive rings of vines as she continued to attack the boy.

"Damn it, she can't keep up with him." Tonya said leaning over the guardrail before wondering, "And whats with him, why won't he fight back?" she asked as Nick stood from checking the still unconscious Bria for injuries, finding none he looked down towards the fight.

"Tonya, I want you to look closely at what's going on down there." Nick said watching Jasmine's vines strike down barely missing Trent. Leaning farther in Tonya began to notice beads of sweat running down Trent's face.

"He's sweating?" she asked looking to the boys for an answer.

"So you do see it. It's not that he won't fight back, it's that he can't." Nick said "He underestimated Jasmine and now he can't get close enough to attack without losing the time he has to dodge."

On the stage Jasmine began to lose her patience with her opponent "C'mon you said you'd hurt me right? Now stop running and face me like a man." she said taunting him.

A smile broke across Trent's face "Ok fine, you want me to go all out well here I come!" he said turning and rolling toward Jasmine as a mass of vines closed in. "That won't stop me!" he screamed jumping into the air and spinning sending an arc of light blue energy cutting through the wall of vegetation and continued to Jasmine causing a small explosion. "Damn I told her I'm not good at holding back. Oh well it can't be helped." Trent sighed picking up his board and began to walk away.

"She lost." Tonya said sadly laying her chin on the railing when a burning sensation was felt on her arm she jumped. "What the hell AJ?!"

"Shut up and watch the fight silly girl." he said smiling.

"What are yo-" She began but was cut off when she notice the vines begin to move wildly "Jasmine?"

"Right on time." AJ said, "It's almost over."

"Where do you think you're going?" Jasmine began to stand surrounded by the cut vines she used to defend herself, her eyes glowing a dark green "This isn't over yet!" she yelled rushing at Trent her fist raised.

Blocking her punch with his board Trent felt it begin to crack under the force of he punch. Spinning the board Trent created a blast of energy sending Jasmine to the opposite side of the stage. "Damn, almost had me there, nice try though." Surprisingly Jasmine was back on her feet immediately charging in again. "Jeez don't you learn?" Trent asked, feeling a light rumble from his board he looked down seeing it covered in vines growing from the crack made by Jasmine's last punch. "Damn it!" he screamed as Jasmine struck his board again snapping it in half and sending him flying back. Standing back up Trent readied to attack but was stopped by Jasmine's larger thorny vines surrounding him in a cage. With his weapon broken and no way to channel his energy he raised his hands. "Alright you got me, I surrender." he said, as he did the vines returned and buried themselves into the ground surrounding the stage. Jasmine's eyes returned to normal as she fell to the ground exhausted

"**AND THERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS THE WINNER OF THE THIRD BATTLE OF THE SECOND ROUND IS JASMINE OF TEAM SEIRYU GIVING THEM A TWO TO ONE LEAD ON THEIR OPPONENTS TEAM GENBU!"**

Jumping from the team area Quinton and AJ landed on the stage along from Will and Terrell, "Hey Jasmine, you still with us?" Quinton asked lifting her.

Weakly opening her eyes she replied, "Yeah, what happened? All I remember is getting blasted then everything went blank."

"Well you won for one thing." AJ shouted patting Jasmine on her back.

"OW! That hurts you jerk! It feels like I got hit by a truck." she exclaimed

"That's normal, especially after you awaken your spirit for the first time." Quinton said carrying Jasmine up the stairs as Will did the same with Trent allowing him to use his shoulder as a crutch.

Stepping into the center of the stage Terrell and AJ stared each other down. Noticing the twin swords on AJ's back Terrell spoke. "I see you've come prepared." pointing to AJ's swords.

"Oh these? Nah I just brought them down, I don't plan on needing them this early." AJ said grinning.

"Don't underestimate me, that could cause you some trouble." Terrell said holding his arm outward fully extending his fingers.

Smiling AJ covered his arms in flames, burning off the sleeve of his shirt. "Hey DJ! Call it, let's get this going!"

"**WELL YOU HEARD THE MAN, LETS GO SEIRYU'S FLAME KING AJ VS GENBU'S TANK TERRELL, BEGIN!"**

As the words were spoken the two combatants barreled to each other, Terrell throwing a powerful punch barely missing AJ. Quickly countering AJ sent his flaming fist into Terrell's stomach before raising his knee to his opponents chin. Unfazed Terrell swung again forcing AJ to jump back to add distance. "OK, maybe you don't know, but this is the part where you fall down." AJ said

"I told you not to underestimate me, there's a reason they call me the Tank." Terrell said a smile growing on his face as he charged AJ. Swiping his fingers across AJ's chest leaving a cut through his shirt. "You sure you don't want to draw you blades."

Repeatedly striking Terrell with flaming combinations AJ noticed that his blows where starting to leave very small burn marks over Terrell's body. "Nah, I think I got this." he said landing a powerful strike to Terrell's stomach sending him across the stage.

Brushing off the hit Terrell stood again and asked, "Do you know?"

confusing AJ who simply tilted his head. "I asked you a question."

"Know what? About the porn you keep in your locker?" AJ replied grinning.

"Funny, but no. Do you know what beast I represent?" Terrell asked again walking towards AJ slowly. A light covering his arms for a short moment before fading. Terrell's forearms now resembled long metallic blades. "Can you guess?"

"Can't say I do, but if I had to guess I'd say an armadillo." AJ said noticing the edge of his opponent's bladed arms and unsheathing his own twin swords.

Clashing with their weapons the two released a very powerful shock wave, the force of which pushed the audience back. "What the hell, how did you come up with that?" Terrell asked pushing AJ back

Kicking Terrell back AJ replied "Well, I was thinking tough skin so I picked armadillo. What other choice was there?" rushing in AJ slashed down with both swords pushing his opponent back farther.

"Don't screw with me!" Terrell yelled "Armored skin and nearly unrivaled physical strength. The power of the Rhino!" he said wildly slashing, forcing AJ to back up. Taking the opportunity to strike Terrell barely grazed AJ cutting off his eyepatch. As the patch landed on the ground an explosion was created, flames covering the stage and the sleeve burned of of AJ's left arm, his now uncovered eye now reptilian and surrounded by thin scales.

"Jeremy we need to stop him!" Quinton called to their captain.

"Not yet, AJ can handle it. Let him take control of it himself." Jeremy said looking down watching his brother.

"What's going on down there?" Tonya asked.

"AJ's spirit took over." Nick said preparing his spear.

"I can see that but why is he going berserk like that." she asked

"AJ's spirit isn't like mine or many others." Jeremy explained. "Think of hosting a spirit, especially animal spirits as a synergistic relationship. The host and spirit work together to gain power and new abilities, but AJ's is different. While most hosts and spirits are compatible, AJ's beast is too wild to keep in check."

"So you're saying nobody can control it." Tonya said watching as AJ began kicking Terrell around flames still flowing from his left eye.

Unable to counter Terrell activated his power again, this time covering his entire body in hard metal plating. Punching through the armor, AJ spoke his voice deeper and the shape of his teeth sharper. "That damn fool, allowing himself to be pushed this far by the likes of you."

"What the hell are you talking about Coleman?" Terrell asked shakily standing before being hit hard with a kick to the ribs sending him flying.

"Don't dare confuse me with the mortal you fought before. Listen well, I am the Dragon King of Flames, bow to your master human for I AM Igneus Flame!"

"I don't care what you call yourself! I'm ending this NOW!" Terrell yelled slamming his sword arms down onto the possessed body of AJ only to be held back by one sword.

"Heh, you're either very brave or a complete idiot to attack me like that. Oh well, if you insist on ending this then allow me." Igneus said holding his free arm to Terrell's chest. Gathering all the flames surrounding the stage into the palm of his hand, he fired, sending Terrell flying into the wall of the warehouse unconscious. "That was a good warm-GAH!" he started but fell to his knees extinguishing the surrounding flames. "DAMNIT I used up too much energy." he added.

Walking towards AJ, Nick and Jeremy called out. "Bro, you back with us?" Jeremy asked

Back to normal AJ responded. "Yeah, I'm back. It happened again didn't it?"

"Yeah, doesn't look like he's gotten any weaker over the years."

"Doesn't feel like it either, I know we won, but how long was I out for?" AJ asked rubbing his head.

"Just a couple minutes." Nick answered.

"**I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT JUST WENT DOWN BUT I LIKE IT!" **R.S. Screamed over the mic, **"IS THAT GUY GONNA BE ALRIGHT? ANYWAY SINCE THESE GUYS PRETTY MUCH DESTROYED THE STAGE WE'RE GONNA NEED SOME TIME TO FIX IT. SO ALL FIGHTERS ARE TO RETURN TO THEIR LOCKER ROOMS AND WAIT FOR THE REPAIRS TO BE COMPLETED." **

"I guess we should go." Nick said as returned to their team.

After shaking their unconscious teammates awake, they made their way through the long hallway back to their locker room. Stepping in they noticed a man in his early twenties sitting on the bench, his chin length black dreadlocks held out of his face by a a black headband.

"You..." Jeremy started, Quinton and Nick moving the girls back.

"What the hell are you doing here?" AJ said the anger obvious in his voice.

"Is that how you greet your big brother? How long's it been, two almost three years?" the man asked

"Not long enough." Jeremy said his anger building alongside AJ's as electricity covered his body, AJ doing the same with his flames.

"I'm sensing a lot of hostility here." He said grinning widely at his two younger brothers.

"What do you expect after what you did, we should kill you here and now!" Jeremy shouted as AJ rushed the man fists ablaze.

"You don't honestly think you can handle both of us without your power." AJ yelled throwing a barrage of punches at the man who effortlessly dodged each one before countering with a powerful kick to his side. Crashing into a wall of lockers AJ shakily stood again.

"It would be suicide for any normal person to take you both on at full power, but did you forget the true owner of those flames of yours little brother?" he said barely dodging Jeremy's lightning charged katana slash. Jeremy rushed in with another slash, but was blocked with a kick holding back the blade. "Nice try, but you need to work on that swing." he said before punching Jeremy towards AJ.

Watching from the hall, Tonya yelled, "C'mon we have to help them." before she could enter the room Nick held her back.

Holding her in place Nick spoke, "No, we can't interfere. Did you see the way they're fighting."

"What about it, the need our help." she said, "Bria, come on." shaking her head Bria refused. "Quinton?" she pleaded but the boy stayed silent.

"This is a family matter, that's all I'm allowed to tell you, and besides the way they're going at it, we'd only get in their way."

"OK then, if your gonna dodge, lets use something you can't avoid. AJ!" Jeremy called out.

"I'm on it!" AJ replied charging flames into the palm as Jeremy mirrored with his lightning.

"Oh, you have a new attack? Okay, let's see it then." He said.

Mixing their elements together, Jeremy and AJ fired the blast at the man resulting in a large explosion as smoke filled the room. As the smoke cleared they saw the man standing perfectly still in the same place, surrounded by black flames. "He's still standing?" AJ yelled.

"Those flames, it can't be. Are those-" Jeremy started.

"Ah,ah,ah. We can't have you spoiling the surprise now can we. Why don't you two take a nap." he said creating a giant black fireball and sending it towards AJ and Jeremy. The explosion generated sent the two flying into the lockers unconscious. The man then walked to the door where Quinton and Nick stood with the girls behind them. "Well that was a little disappointing. Oh and tell those two when they wake up that Hades will be watching this tournament as well." he said to the team as he walked through the hallway disappearing around a corner.

Rushing to AJ and Jeremy's side the team attempted to wake them but to no avail. AJ briefly regaining consciousness only able to speak one word before passing out again. "Marcus."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well this was a pretty short Chapter, I had to move some things around and ended up running myself into a dead end so i won' update until i can figure out exactly how I want to move from here but May should be a good time to start checking in. So until then I'll be working on a few more stories.


	9. Match Point

OKAY finally back after a month long break. Happy to see people are really reading the story but, I won't bore you with my feels. Onward with the story.

**CH 9: Match Point.**

"Jeremy! Jeremy! Wake up!" Tonya called to their team captain as she attempted to wake him as Bria did the same with AJ.

Placing his hand on Tonya's shoulder Nick got her attention, "He'll be fine. Just let him rest."

"But, that guy just." She tried to speak but was interrupted/

"Don't worry, they're just unconscious." Quinton said leaning against a locker as Jasmine sighed loudly.

"If we're going to fight with you guys, I think you should fill us in." Jasmine said standing behind Nick who was helping Bria bandage AJ's injuries from his fight with Terrell. Her words caused AJ to chuckle in his unconscious state. "Damn, a pervert even in his sleep."

Placing the first aid kit on the floor and taking a seat on the bench. "You're right, you do deserve to know why we're fighting. What do you want to know?"

"Ok, alright then listen up we don't have much time. Here's the3 short version." Nick said as the girls looked towards him waiting. ""This whole thing started three years ago. The student counsil was voted in normally by voting throughout the school, but after about a week members were targeted and badly beaten. The ones responsible were the original members of Byakko, their attacks forced the council to step down. Byakko then took their positions."

"But what does that have to do with whats going on now?" Tonya asked.

"Everything." Nick responded, "When Byakko took charge there were only three members. Their leader was Cole. That guy was a monster when it came to street fights, he didn't use any powers or weapons. He was just a one man army. He was also the older brother of Michael, the current leader."

"You said "was" does that mean he...?" Bria asked.

"We don't know, one day he just disappeared." Nick answered "Moving on, the second member was Damian. This guy had the best weapon skills of the three, he could beat a skilled swordsman with a branch if he wanted to. He's still around, but can't fight again."

"Why, what happened to him?"

"I'll get to that soon. The last member you've already seen, his name is Marcus. I think you can guess what he specialized in after what you just saw."

"Okay, but why did he attack AJ and Jeremy? Who exactly is he?" Tonya asked

"He's our brother." Arthur answered walking into the room with a camera hanging from his neck.

"Wait, I thought it was just the three of you." Tonya said surprised by the answer she was given.

"Where you get that from, we have a pretty big family. There's a total of seven of us." Arthur clarified. "but that's not why I'm here." he added grabbing his phone. "Look at these." Turning his phone to the team he began sliding past photos of a warehouse nearly completely destroyed and covered in a layer of ice.

Jumping from his seat Quinton asked surprised at the sight of the Suzuka and Byakko battleground "Who won?"

"Byakko won, four fights to one, they finished before AJ's fight even started." Arthur said answering his question. Turning around at the sound of knocking at the doorway the team noticed a younger student in a referee uniform.

"Excuse me, the stage will be ready in a few minutes. Please make your way back."

"Alright, we'll be done in a few minutes." Nick replied. " OK who's fighting next?" Nick asked.

Raising his hand slightly, Quinton answered. "I'm next."

"That's not a good idea." Nick said plainly. "Since Byakko won, we can't assume we'll win our next two matches easily. Tonya I think you should go next."

"What? Why me?" she asked shocked at the idea.

"More than likely their going to send their captain out next to get another win, but that's exactly what we need." Nick added.

"I don't follow." Tonya said as Nick continued.

"If Quinton has to fight their captain then there's no way he'll be at full strength for the next match. Plus if you lose then Quinton can fight the last one."

"I see what you mean. Okay I'll do it. Go on I'll meet you guys there, let me just get changed."

"Alright, C'mon lets go." Nick said as the team minus Jeremy, AJ and Tonya left.

Standing in the dressing room Tonya unzipped a duffel bag. Reaching in she removed a small pendant, gripping it tightly she softly spoke. "I won't lose."

* * *

Standing next to the new stage Rolling Star yelled into his microphone, "**ALRIGHT EVERBODY AS YOU CAN SEE THE STAGE IS READY FOR MORE BLOOD! WE'VE USED THE RUBBLE FROM THE BROKEN STAGE TO CREATE THE LARGE OBSTACLES YOU SEE HERE. NOW I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE TIRED OF HEARING MY UNGODLY SEXY VOICE SO LETS GET ON WITH THE FIGHT! FROM TEAM GENBU IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'LL BE ****SENDING OUT THEIR CAPTAIN, THE ARTIC GUNNER, WILL FRANKLIN!" **with his introduction out of the way Will stepped onto the stage wearing a camouflage jumpsuit with a pistol on his belt holster. **"AND FOR HIS OPPONENT WE HAVE A NEWCOMER, TONYA ANDERS... WAIT, WHAT?" **The audience mumbling in confusion as Tonya entered the stage wearing a black body suit with purple pads on her shoulders, knees, and elbow, a short sword rested on the small of her back and two bladed fans on her hip. **"WELL, WHATEVER. BEGIN WHEN READY!"**

"So you're gonna fight me, would've figured you'd send Quinton out." Will said smiling at Tonya.

Using the collar of her shirt as a mask to cover the bottom of her face she reached for the foot long ninja sword on her back. "Are you disappointed?" she asked jokingly.

"Haha, not at all. I just don't want to hurt you." Will answered laughing aggravating Tonya. Looking at Quinton for a split second, Will was surprised to see that Tonya stood behind him with her blade to his neck. "How did you?"

"Don't ignore me. I'm a better fighter than you think." Tonya said pulling the blade forcing Will to hastily move to the side.

Feeling the side of his neck Will noticed the cut was too shallow. "I see, sorry about that. Although you probably would've had a better chance if you seriously attacked me just then." he said his smile never fading.

"I know, but I don't want anyone saying I won, with a cheap shot. Besides it's not like we're her to kill each other." Tonya said. "You ready to start?"

"Haha, yeah, let's do this." Will answered.

Team Seiryu's four members watching stared at their teammate wide eyed. "Quinton, how did she do that?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't know, this isn't the power she was using earlier is it?" Quinton wondered.

"It might be, think about it. Jeremy was training her how to use her power, so knowing him he had her use the chakrams as a focus." Nick said aloud only to have his attention brought back to the fight by the sound of Tonya cutting through an icicle thrown by Will.

Rushing in Tonya attempted to kick Will in his chest only to be blocked and pushed back and forced to dodge more icicles.

'_She's not as fast as she was a moment ago.' _Will thought to himself, "Try and dodge this!" he called out sending a large number of icicles at Tonya.

Tonya forced to stop her side step by one of the pillars made from the broken stage. Sheathing the sword Tonya switched to her two metal fans. Adding pressure to the handle she threw them, the fans breaking into multiple knife like blades. Colliding with the icicles, surprised Will jumped back early enough to dodge Tonya's follow up slash.

"Whoa, that was close, you're not as fast as Lainey but you're pretty damn close." Will said reaching for the pistol in his holster. "If I don't get serious you might just waste me here." he added as the gun began to glow a dull blue. Pulling the trigger, Will fired three ice spikes the size of a 9mm bullet, unable to react in time Tonya was grazed by the ice bullet.

Gripping her shoulder Tonya began emitting a purple aura concentrating it to her legs. "Boost." Disappearing she appeared behind Will again, this time though feeling a sharp pain in her thigh. Looking down she saw the source of the pain, two ice spikes buried into her leg. Transferring the aura to her sword and attacking before jumping back Tonya was able to land a deep slash to Will's arm.

"I got a little careless there, but don't think the same move is gonna work twice on me. I think I figured your power out. You can momentarily increase your speed or strength. Well I guess that last shot should slow you down a bit." he said checking the larger cut on his arm.

"So you figured it out huh. Jeremy said you'd notice but I didn't think you would catch on so fast." Tonya said using her sword to break the spike in her leg.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'm actually running low on energy now." He said running his hand through his hair.

"Why would you tell me that?" Tonya said preparing to counter any attack Will might throw her way.

"I hope you don't mind me finishing this now." Will said jumping into the air, aiming his pistol like before causing it to glow again as a spike formed out of the barrel.

"I guess not." she said to herself "Boost." the aura returned to her this time much stronger. Placing the sword in front of herself Tonya waited. See this Will continued charging until the spike was larger than himself.

"Frost Rocket!" Will exclaimed firing the spike, the force of it pushing him into a pillar. Forcing the aura to her blade Tonya jumped directly at the ice rocket. As the two forces collided the stage was engulfed in an explosion of ice sending shards of the rocket through the air.

As the dust cleared Tonya resting in the middle of the stage unable to stand. Looking up she saw Will, ice shards embedded into his arms dripping blood as he shielded his face. Pulling himself from the pillar he stepped towards Tonya smiling. "That was fun." Will said looking to Rolling Star. "Ref, call the match. She's won."

"**Are you sure? I mean technically you are the last one standing, you could take this victory." **he asked confused by what he was just told.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's actually taking all my energy to stand here." turning his attention to Tonya "You should be proud, your first official fight and you force me to use one of my special moves." seeing the confused look on her face Will continued "Don't get me wrong you are strong but, if I was fighting seriously from the get go, you'd have to leave on a stretcher." he added as he walked off the stage blood still dripping behind him.

While watching Will walk away, Tonya felt two hands on her shoulders. Looking up she stared into the faces of Bria and Jasmine. Helping her up the three walked towards Quinton and Nick waiting at the edge of the stage.

"**YOU HEARD IT FOLKS, THE FIFTH FIGHT GOES TO TONYA OF TEAM SEIRYU. THAT MAKES FOUR WINS TO ONE, THE MATCH GOES TO SEIRYU. CONGRATULATIONS SEIRYU. THERE WILL BE A TWO DAY INTERMISSION BEFORe THE SECOND SET OF MATCHES BEGINS. THE MATCH UPS ARE GENBU VS SUZAKU, AND SEIRYU VS BYAKKO!"**

* * *

Walking through the hallway, the victorious team made their way to the locker room they left their teammates. Opening the door they witnessed an explosion of energy that filled the room with flames and lightning. As the dust cleared Jeremy stood alongside AJ in their spirit enhanced forms. Reverting to their normal forms the two looked towards the team.

"Well, you guys are back sooner than expected." Jeremy said. "Did those blades help any?" he asked noticing the bloodstain on her leg.

"Yeah, but I let my guard down and he got some good shots in." Tonya said siting down on the bench.

"I see, we'll take a break tomorrow, everyone's in pretty bad shape right now." Jeremy said.

"Before we leave I need to know, what is Tonya's true ability?" Nick asked staring at Tonya and Jeremy.

"I really would've thought you'd understand it after seeing her fight. Tonya why don't you fill them in." Jeremy said

"Okay. See I don't destroy, like we thought with that paper. My power is boosting my own natural abilities, but I can't boost more than one attribute at a time." She clarified.

"So that's how you got that first slash on Will." Nick stated.

"If that's all let's get out of here." Jeremy said leading the team out of the door.

"...pssst, Nick."AJ called from the room getting Nick's attention. "I'm gonna need your help for something...fun." he said closing the door behind them.

* * *

Opening the door to a dark room Marcus entered "Honey, I'm Home!" he called out as four more people emerged from the darkness. The one farthest from the door spoke in a masculine voice. His black brown hair stopping just above his neck and parted to the right. The interesting part of his appearance were his eyes, the right a dark green and the left a bright blue.

"Where have you been, Cerberus?" he demanded..

"I had some business to handle, why did you miss me Kallen?" Marcus answered, catching Kallen's fist thrown at his head. Crushing it he spoke, "fine I get it, code names right, Yeti?" Marcus added before using his free hand to pluck the boy across his forehead sending him falling backwards a few feet.

As Kallen began to stand again to attack Marcus a soft hand lightly grabbed his shoulder.. "Karren?" he asked as the young woman looking nearly identical to him except her hair and eye colors inverted, released him.

Shaking her head, she spoke. "The Master will be angry if we fight among ourselves brother."causing Kallen to release a low grumble before standing beside his twin quietly.

"Cerberus just because Master Hades chose you, doesn't mean you can leave without warning. You're the master's guard, you should be by his side." said another voice coming from the tallest figure in the room.

"Yeah, yeah, sure Gryphon. Where is the geezer anyway?" Marcus codenamed Cerberus asked.

"(cough,cough) A geezer am I?" came an older voice. Hearing the words the group bowed except for Cerberus. Out of the darkness of the room came an old man visibly weak and sickly, sitting in a wheelchair he rolled forward stopping in front of Marcus. "You went to pay "them" a visit correct?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Marcus asked stepping to the old man.

"Not at all, they are two prime candidates. Now that you have returned it is time to put my plan into motion. I want you to lead the others and plant the "seeds"." Hades said as darkness filled the room again.

"Alright, I'll put these guys to work tomorrow." he answered turning to the group as their Master began to roll back into the darkness of the room. "Aren't you forgetting something Old Man?" Marcus asked, Hades stopping.

"And what would that be my boy?" he asked looking over his shoulder.

Smiling at the old man Marcus replied, "No plan starting is complete without an evil laugh, right?"

"hehe I guess you do have a point." Hades replied, a smile spreading across his wrinkled face. "HAHAHAH-(strained cough)"

As Hades returned to the darkness, Marcus, lead his squad of 5 out of the room.

* * *

_The Next Day_

Jeremy lay on the living room sofa flipping through television channels when his dad walks in sitting in the chair next to him. "Who's your next opponent?" he asked.

"Byakko." Jeremy said still flipping through channels.

"Already, I thought you'd fight them in the finals."

"They scared off four of the teams so, the remaining teams are doing a round robin style double elimination." Jeremy explained. "Have you seen AJ today?"

"Yeah, he said he was going out for something." Mr. Coleman answered. "He left with some guy, I think I've seen him with you before. What was his name...Mick?"

"Nick? What's AJ doing with him." Jeremy thought. "Eh, probably nothing important." he said returning to the tv.

Running into the room Arthur jumped over the sofa Jeremy was on grabbing the remote in the process.

"You not gonna believe this." he said quickly changing the channels.

"You're right, I don't believe you just took that remote from me." Jeremy stated sending an electrical shock to Arthur's leg.

"Chill, just look!" Arthur said stopping on a local news station.

"_-bank was robbed moments ago by an unidentified man. Witnesses describe the man as an African-American teen standing around six feet and two inches tall. No footage is available as the security system malfunctioned as the assailant entered. The suspect was said to have used some sort of flamethrower to threaten the tellers into handing over large quantities of ones, and five dollar bills. That's all we have so far, we will update this story as soon as the information becomes available to us."_

"Did she say "flamethrower"?" Jeremy asked looking at his younger brother.

"Yeah, she did." Arthur answered.

"There's still no proof they're talking about AJ." Mr. Coleman stated as the woman reappeared on the screen.

"_More info on the Stockwell Bank robbery. It appears that the security system was hacked into with a simple prepaid telephone. It is currently unknown how the cellphone connected to the system but police are investigating."_

"Can Nick-" Mr. Coleman started to ask

"Yeah, easily." Jeremy said. Hearing the front door close the three turned around to see Nick with a laptop and a cellphone. Seeing the news behind the three Nick slid the phone into his pocket.

"I know what you're thinking, but I had nothing to do with this." he said as AJ burst in through the door sirens blaring in the distance. On his back was a large overstuffed backpack, his pockets filled to the limits with dollar bills.

"YES, IT WORKED!" he screamed, "THAT WAS AWESOME. HIGH FIVE!" AJ continued but was left hanging by Nick who simply facepalmed. "What's wrong?" he asked Nick. Looking at the TV he noticed the bank "OH, now I get it."

"Why isn't this a surprise?" Jeremy asked removing a large number of bills from the bag counting them. "Well I can't really say that, but why only ones and fives?"

"Well I could explain that, or I could call some strippers over." he replied resulting in Arthur throwing him a phone.

"I can't believe we're related." Jeremy said shaking his head. "Whatever, you can choose your friends but not your family." he thought to himself as the others sat around the TV,

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**** WELL AFTER A GOOD MONTH LONG BREAK HERE, I'M FINALLY READY TO GET SOME WORK DONE HERE. I'M STILL WORKING ON A FEW STORIES LIKE "DATS REBOOT" AND "YU-GI-OH ZX" BUT THOSE AREN'T REALLY MY MAIN CONCERN RIGHT NOW. FOR THE MOMENT I'M GONNA FOCUS ON CATCHING UP ON THIS STORY NOW THAT THE HARD PART IS OVER. THANKS FOR READING PLEASE RATE & REVIEW.**


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